The Gale Force Nightmare
by Anotherjaneway
Summary: The unthinkable happens when the Santa Ana winds start blowing. The outcome effects the whole gang. Will their lives ever be the same again?


Note:

This is a production that was an interactive story between fans of Emergency.  
Written by multiple authors from January 2008 to June 2010. (Reposted with permission)

Credit was left to whom wrote what scenes. Download and fix this format on your own if you wish it to be nameless per scene for your collection. Patti (Anotherjaneway)

*** Original posting order was.. Nita, Laura, Katy, Erin, Patti, Debbie, Mary Ann and Sherry.***

The Gale Force Nightmare

Sherry -

As Johnny lay in his bunk at the station, unable to sleep that night, he remembered that it was an unusually cold and windy night only a few nights ago, in Los Angeles, the night that the Station had a run. What he saw on that call made it virtually impossible for him to get it out of his mind.

Nita -

Several nights ago...

Johnny and Roy had just finished up the late dinner dishes, when another heavy gust of wind rattled the bay doors, sounding like some horrible monster trying it's best to tear it's way into the station. Johnny shuddered, the hair on the back of his neck rising slightly, out of fear or cold, he did not know. Roy noticed his partner's discomfort, and handed him a hot cup of coffee.

"Let's go join the others in front of the tv. This could be a long night. Might as well enjoy ourselves while we can," Roy offered, while steering his best friend toward the lounge area of the room.

"Yeah, I guess so. Thanks, Roy. I've just got a bad feeling about tonight, is all," Johnny remarked, his voice sounding much more steady than he felt.

He and Roy joined their teammates and settled in for what they hoped to be a quiet evening in front of the television.

Laura -

But after sitting down for only five minutes, Johnny was up again.  
Leaving his coffee cup on the kitchen table, he walked over to the back door and stood looking out the window.

Captain Stanley picked up on Johnny's awkward body language. "Roy...is Johnny okay? He seems...I don't know...nervous or something."

Roy looked back at his partner, before softly answering his boss. "I'm not sure, Cap. I...I think this heavy wind has him spooked for some reason."

Chet smirked. "It's probably just Gage's imagination running wild.  
He probably thinks somethin's comin' after him or something."

Johnny turned around after hearing Chet's comment. "Make fun of me,  
Kelly...*I've* gone on rescues when the wind is blowing like a son of a gun...can't say I enjoy them much, especially when you're high up.  
Can you say the same thing?"

Seeing the serious look on Johnny's face, Chet decided not to say anything in response.

"I didn't think so, Chet...and unless you have...keep quiet, okay?"

No one said anything for a few moments, the only sounds were from the TV set and the howling wind from outside. Hank was about to say something to ease the tension, when the alarms went off...causing the hair on the back of Johnny's neck to once again stand up.

Katy -

Roy saw the fear etched in the normally smooth face. Johnny was used to mountain climbing and rappelling from the high rises around town but the look in his eyes this night was something different. The men all hurried to their places as the loud speaker announced the situation ...  
"Station 51 a car has gone off the fire road in Topanga Canyon. Multiple injuries possible. Time out 2135."  
Cap responded from the cab of the engine as they pulled out. "10-4, Station 51, KMG 365"  
Johnny's heart raced in his chest and he muttered, "Something's not right."  
Roy looked at his partner, "What's not right, Johnny?"  
"This is all wrong."  
"It's alright we'll do our job and get home fine," Roy tried his best to calm the young man sitting beside him.  
Johnny could feel the winds buffet the squad and glanced at Roy who struggled with the wheel. If he's fighting with the wheel then ... He looked in his side mirror and watched in abject terror as the engine swerved crazily. "ROY!" Johnny yelled ...  
Erin -

Roy struggled with the wheel as he yelled, "What?"  
"Stop NOW!"  
The wind started to pick up as Johnny looked back again. "Oh my god. Roy we gotta stop now the engine is in trouble!"  
Roy yelled "Hang on this is gonna leave a mark!"  
Roy slammed the brakes on as the wind howled around them. He looked back toward the engine and gasped, "Oh my goodness..."

Patti -

Engine 51 was listing, teetering on the four wheels on her downwind side, tipping over. Forward momentum arched the engine sickeningly into an out of control swerve that the two paramedics could only see and not hear over the din of their sirens. Then it happened.

Mike Stoker flinched and threw up his arms as the front end of the Ward plowed almost full force into the hillside just off the road, glass shattered horribly as the overbalanced pumper crashed heavily onto her side.

Roy and Johnny back up the squad, high speed, to get over there.

"L.A., Squad 51! Our engine's been involved in a single vehicle crash. Injuries unknown! Send another response to our call. Squad 51 is no longer available!" Gage shouted into the mic over the roar of the storm wind as Roy flicked off their own siren for communication room.

##Squad 51, L.A. 10-4. Responding a second alarm to your incident.##

Roy and Johnny wove around startled, stopped traffic and then they got out of the rescue squad to throw on their turnouts. Gage ran ahead, slipping in gravel, scared out of his mind, while Roy hurried to grab out most of their medical gear and their HTs.

"Cap! Chet? Mike! Hey!" Gage said, running to side of the steaming, now smoking engine. All of the glass in the windows was shattered and spider webbed. The interior wasn't visible. But there was no blood. ::Not yet.::  
a dark side of Johnny's mind thought. Fear made him concentrate. He began pounding on the roof of the engine, even as his eyes were looking for spilling fuel that might catch on the burning brakes he could smell. A fire broke out underneath the chassis. "Roy! We need a hose off the back! Now! The rig's on fire!"

"I-I got it.." he stumbled, hurrying almost faster than his large frame could move. "What about the gang? Anything?" DeSoto said as he reached for the red reel line spilled like wet spaghetti off its spool, near them. "Pressure's good." he shouted, immediately gushing water over the underside of the engine.  
Every instinct in him wanted to help his partner search, but ending the extreme fire risk danger, came first.

Johnny pulled off his gloves. Pounding even harder. "I'm still trying to get in! Hey, anybody! Can you hear me?" He pulled out the halligan from his jacket front and smashed the fractured windshield's face, quickly, carefully.

Debbie -  
A hole fell open to reveal Mike unconscious behind the wheel of the engine. The rise and fall of his chest revealed labored breathing.  
Johnny briefly felt relief knowing his friend and coworker was alive but trepidation over the seriousness of Mike's injuries overshadowed his relief. Johnny laid flush with the truck as he pushed his arm through the hole, in an attempt to reach Mike. Shards of glass cut into his face as he pressed two fingers against Mike's neck. A weak pulse was found. Unconsciously Johnny had been holding his breath,  
slowly he exhaled, pulling his arm from the small hole he yelled to Roy, "Roy, Mike's alive but in bad shape from what I can tell. I can't tell about the rest of the guys, I need the jaws to get this windshield out of the way."  
Roy continued to hose down the engine, "I'll get it, Johnny.  
The fire is nearly out." See the last of the flames die, Roy ran to the squad and retrieved the jaws of life. The dread Johnny had expressed earlier now was enveloping Roy. Somehow he felt time was working against all of them. Wind whipped and whirled around as it slammed into him slowing his pace, eating away at the precious time needed to rescue his friends. Deep down he believed Johnny and he were the only hope their friends had of surviving and he knew neither of them would stop until Cap, Mike, Chet and Marco were rescued.

Mary Ann -

"Mike! Can you hear me?" Johnny said loudly, over the roaring wind.

"Oh jeez, what was that?" said a shaky voice.

Johnny's eyebrows shot up when he realized those words weren't spoken by Mike, who remained unconscious, but from very nearby. "Cap? Cap! Where are you?" The spot where Hank Stanley should have been sitting simply didn't exist anymore. The captain's seat wasn't visible and his side of the cab looked completely crushed inwards.

"Uh, John that you?"

"Yeah, Cap! Are you hurt?" Johnny waited for a response. "Cap!"

"I don't think so. Just stuck. Something's holding me down by my right shoulder," Stanley said. He groaned, trying to move. "It's no use. My legs are tangled under the seat." He gasped suddenly,  
catching his breath. "How are the guys? Everyone okay? Did you get them out? Lopez? Kelly?"

"Just hold still, Cap. We'll get you out. Roy's getting the jaws,  
and we'll be inside in a minute. Mike's unconscious, but I can't make out his injuries yet. I haven't heard anything from Chet or Marco, but we'll get to `em."

Roy stopped beside Johnny saying, "How's he doing?"

"Pulse is weak, breathing is shallow, but I can't reach far enough to feel for injuries. Cap's awake and sounds alert. He's right over here somewhere." Johnny took a second to look in Roy's eyes hard for a moment, "He says he's okay and uninjured. Just stuck." He shook his head briefly, letting Roy know he didn't believe his Cap for a second. Roy nodded his understanding.

Roy handed Johnny one of the blankets from the squad, and Johnny quickly placed it over as much of Stoker's head and shoulders as he could reach.

"Okay, Cap, we're going to start the jaws and get Mike out of here.  
Hang on."

"Just make sure you get him out, then Lopez and Kelly. Understand me, Gage?" Stanley's voice still managed to carry a no-nonsense air of authority, even from underneath the mangled mess.

"Yes sir!" Johnny started the jaws, while Roy crouched down and helped stabilize his partner's body against the fierce wind.

A minute passed as Johnny worked the jaws on the windshield. Finally it stopped, having worked to create an opening big enough for Johnny to squeeze through. A hand on Roy's back startled him and he turned quickly to see Chet standing over him. "Chet! Are you hurt?"

"No, I don't think so. Just banged up. But Marco's not looking too good."

Johnny jumped up, relieved to see Chet. "Hang on, Chet, why don't you just let us make sure you're not hurt."

"Gage, I said I'm not and you don't have time to be messing with me.  
I said Marco's hurt! Where's Cap? Let me help."

Roy and Johnny looked at each other for a quick moment, knowing Chet was right. Time was not on their side right now. "Okay, Chet," said Johnny. "You help me out here. Get the biophone and O2 equipment from the squad. Roy, you go ahead and check on Marco."

"Right." said Roy, quickly rushing around the engine.

Johnny turned his attention to squeezing inside the window where he could examine Stoker.

Chet braced himself against the wind as he ran to the squad. He quickly pulled the equipment from the storage compartments. Hearing a noise behind him, he turned to see a semi truck that had rounded the corner, but turned wide to avoid a small Volkswagen Beetle that skittered in front of it, blown by the gusting wind. The hiss of air brakes, and the squealing of tires on pavement, was all the warning Chet had to sprint away from the squad and throw himself and the equipment down the sloping embankment, as the semi-truck collided with the squad. The force caused the squad to jerk and slam down onto its side. Chet's head popped up from the where he was lying, taking in the new scene. He looked past the semi, seeing the little Volkswagen sitting on its side, leaning over the embankment. He grabbed the equipment and climbed out, running for Johnny. As he set the equipment down, they heard the distant wail of a siren approaching. "Oh, finally " Johnny said, patting Chet on the back. "Go check on the drivers, Chet, then fill in the Engine company when they get here."

Chet nodded and was off running.

Sherry -

The howling wind showed no mercy to either the situation at hand or the firefighter. Finally reaching Engine 16, Captain Pete Hardy jumped down from the cab to talk to Kelly.

"Kelly, what'cha got what happened?"

Yelling above the wind, or at least trying to, Chet replied, "Cap, we were responding to a call with the Squad when Stoker lost control of the rig due to the wind Gage and DeSoto are fine, Captain Stanley is all right but just stuck Marco and Mike are hurt bad we need another Squad out here to help Johnny and Roy and we need at least three ambulances!"

"Squad 12 is on the way and I'll have Tony call for the ambulances!"

With the wind getting worse, Captain Hardy had to climb back into the cab in order to talk to his Engineer. As Engineer Tony Lacy got on the radio, Pete climbed back down to again speak with Chet.

"What can we do to help Kelly?"

Laura -

Before Chet could respond to the Captain, an explosion ripped through the overturned truck that had hit 51's squad. On top of already dealing with the overturned engine and the seriously injured trapped firefighters...they now had this newest obstacle to contend with.

Quickly getting back on the radio, Captain Hardy called in this newest development to dispatch and requested more manpower to be sent to their location. He then instructed his crew on how he wanted them to proceed in the handling of the new fire.

Johnny and Roy stopped what they were doing and briefly looked at each other, each one silently acknowleging the extreme severity of the situation. It was at that moment that they both heard the scream...a terrifying blood-curdling scream. Once again looking at one another, it quickly dawned on them whose scream it was. They knew it came from somewhere under the battered fire engine.

Looking down, Johnny saw that Stoker was still unconscious and Cap appeared to be hanging in there...the only other person unaccounted for was Marco. He had obviously regained consciousness and must have been in some excruciating pain for him to scream like that.

Roy attempted to get Marco to calm down but was only met with more terrifying screams. After a minute of unsuccessfully trying to calm his friend down, Roy looked up to see Squad 12 arriving. In his mind it had seemed to take forever for more help to arrive, but he knew that wasn't the case. With the severe wind, all emergency vehicles had to be careful so they too weren't casualties. All Roy could think of was how relieved he was to know that there were more paramedics on scene.

Getting out of their squad, the two paramedics took in the horrifying scene. Matt Harmon, 12's senior paramedic could only mutter, "Heaven help us...all of us."

Katy -

"Marco!" Roy yelled over the howl of the wind and the terrified screams of the firefighter. "Marco, look at me."  
He didn't dare shake the man's shoulders for fear of injuring Marco's neck or back. "Marco!" "Roy, I can't feel my arms and legs." Marco screamed back. "I can't live like this, Roy." Roy got down to Marco's ear and told him, "Don't panic. It's only temporary. The feeling should come back."  
"But ..."  
"Have I ever lied to you before?"  
"No," Marco responded.  
"Trust me then," Roy straightened up and yelled, "Somebody, anybody, I need a backboard, c-collar, and the biophone, stat!" Johnny and Chet had gotten Mike out of the cab of the truck. Johnny contacted Rampart, started an IV, and gotten him stabilized. Matt Harmon and his partner Scotty Smith were loading Mike into an ambulance. Johnny turned in time to hear Roy's yell for equipment, grabbed what he could and joined his partner.

"He says he can't feel his arms and legs." Roy told Johnny as he put on the c-collar. "We'll get him on to the back board in a second. Chet call Rampart for us, we'll get vitals and you can relay them."  
"Okay." Chet picked up the receiver, "Rampart, this is Squad 51."  
"Go ahead, 51." Brackett responded.  
"We have a male firefighter approximately 28, hold for vitals."  
"10-4, 51."  
"Hey, where's Cap?" Chet asked.  
"I'm here, get Marco out first." The three men looked at each other. "Where's here, Cap?" Johnny asked.  
"Get Marco stabilized then deal with finding me!"  
"But Cap ..." "Don't argue, Gage, just do it!"

Erin -

Johnny groaned but knew Cap was right. "All right, we'll get him stabilized, but I want to hear from you every two minutes. Got it?" Cap knew he'd have to cooperate to allow his junior medic to focus. "Fine."  
"Good." Johnny and Roy shared a silent look of concern but knew they had to stay professional. They got Marco on the board with some help from Matt Harmon who had come over. Roy said, "All right, let's get him outta here." Looking down at Marco, Roy asked, "Hey pal, can you breathe okay?"  
"Somewhat." came the labored reply.  
"All right, pal, easy. We'll get you squared away."  
Johnny reached over and started the oxygen on Marco. "That better?"  
"Yeah." Suddenly Marco became scared. "Can somebody stay with me from our squad? It's not that I don't trust anybody else but..."  
Johnny cut him off. "But you'd feel better with one of us around?"  
"Exactly."  
"Yeah one of us will go in with you." "Gracias."  
Johnny stumbled to answer back in Spanish and keep his friend calm. "De nada."  
Johnny looked up at Chet as Roy started the IV that Rampart ordered. "Chet, you're now glued to his side. You holler the minute something is up or you think something might be up."  
"Got it."  
"Good."  
Johnny turned back to Roy. "Now to find Cap."  
Roy called out. "Cap, Hank, where the heck are you?"  
From a distance Roy heard, "Would you believe under the left side lined up with the equipment. My legs are pinned but somehow I ended up in an air pocket."  
"All right, Cap. Hang in there."  
Patti -

Captain Hardy snapped out orders to his crew and Tony Lacy, the engineer, to step up his water pressure supply they were using to control the ruptured gas tank fire left over from the blast torn semi truck.  
He shouted, aloud. "Kelly! Any survivors in the secondary vehicles?" he asked about the tipped over Volkswagen and the semi.

Chet looked up and slowly gave a thumbs down.  
"Three Code F, Cap!" he told Engine 18's captain.  
"They burned." he said, being direct and succinct only because it was necessary to save critical time. "The truck's cargo is only wallpaper rolls. No chemicals!" Chet reported,  
pointing to the tubes of plastic wrapped wood pulp littering the freeway. "Our squad's not a risk. She's cold."

Traffic, had finally come to a halt at the behest of five angry highway patrolman on motorbikes as they began encircling the rescue scene, creating a safe buffer zone.

Hardy sighed. Hard. "I'll get the coroner in."  
"I'm notifying air rescue. How many with trauma do you guys have left?" Hardy roared over the wind.

Chet held up two fingers. "Hank and Marco! Both conscious!  
One with spinal symptoms, one as yet unknown! Put a rush on them anyway, sir. Things aren't feeling right by a mile!"

"I'll tell them." said a very sober Hardy. He looked at one of his firemen. "Steve, go grab out additional oxygen bottles and a resuscitator. Put it on standby. They've one still trapped. I don't want them running out of 02 in the middle of extrication. Then get back there and help them pop the roof and side chassis off Stanley."

"Right, sir." said the junior tillerman.

Hardy turned back to help his other four men push the burning gasoline and far flung flaming truck debris away from E-51's exposed position with active hose streams from his engine's two lines. He called for Battalion One, the district's fire chief, and informed him of the deaths even as he upped his mass casualty status to top priority critical. L.A. toned out a third alarm.

Scotty Smith, the younger medic from Squad 12, set a flowing ambu bag above Marco's head where he couldn't see it, gesturing with his eyes to Roy to let him know that it was ready for use if Lopez started needing a little inhalation help while awake.

Mark Harmon, his senior, stripped off Lopez's shoes and socks and tested for a Babinski's reflex on both feet. "It's negative."

Lopez, panting under his oxygen mask, muttered. "What does that mean?"

DeSoto, gripped his shoulder where he could feel it. "That means no nerve damage, Marco. Just relax. Chet, stay by his head. Johnny,  
Mark and I are going to see about Cap. Let us know when the chopper arrives."

"I will." Kelly said, beginning to shiver, he winced when a bruise he was just becoming aware of, pinched his throat. He coughed, painfully.

Gage looked up sharply from where he was patching Marco into the EKG monitor. "Chet? What are you hiding? Level with us."

"Nothing man. It's just a- my throat's a little raspy, that's all." Chet said, turning paler. "I only pulled something throwing myself away from the other crash.  
I'm feeling fine." he insisted.

Roy got no nonsense. "Sit down, before you fall down. And while you're taking Marco's pulse and respirations count. Take your own. I'll be right over to get a BP on ya."

Marco got worried. "Chet? You said you weren't that banged up. Are you okay for real?" he panted as he watched the paramedics get his stokes ready.

Kelly closed his eyes where he sagged on his butt, propping skinned elbows on his knees. "I think so.. I..I'm just shook up or something."

Gage tossed Chet a spare blanket an EMT had tossed to him before Mike was wheeled away. "Use that right now. If Roy finds a BP lower than a hundred, lie down and put your feet up. We'll examine you after we quick assess Cap."

Chet didn't argue. He had to force himself to focus his eyes at his watch long enough to count the fast beat actively thudding in Marco's neck. He began to curse when his own proved to be faster. He began to control his body's stress rapid breathing by closing his mouth and breathing in only through his nose. "His : 120, 18. ..Uh,...I got him beat, Johnny."

"What're you at?"

"146, 24."

"Slow your breathing down. You'll only hyperventilate if you keep that up."  
Gage snapped as he buried his legs feet first into the twisted heart of the Ward.

"I know. Working on it.." Chet panted. "I'm not even tingly yet." He said adjusting the blanket more snugly around himself.

Marco's eyes began to droop.

"Hey,..open up those peepers, Marco. If I can't take a cat nap, you can't either." Chet ordered, eye lid tapping Marco awake again.

Marco sputtered, gasping. "Okay, okay.. deal..I'll win that bet." he teased,  
straining against another neck spasm.

Near them, Cap groaned. Scotty followed Gage inside, passing off a portapower.  
"Cap?"Johnny shouted in the semi darkness, fighting to be heard over the howling wind blasting road dust into the hole they found themselves in.

"O-over here, pal. How are the others?" Cap asked quietly. Burgeoning fear was just starting to effect his voice.

"Holding." Gage told him. "Now where are you bleeding from?" he asked when he saw Cap's bloody palms gripping the metal that was pinning him down.

"I am?" Cap startled, suddenly looking at them. "I don't know. I.. I'm not in any pain. None that I can feel right now." He twisted his head, looking down.  
"Oh,..it's my hip. My pant's are ripped down there. Left side."

Johnny cut away the material with his bandage shears, reaching as far into the hole as he could. "It feels superficial. Must be road burn."

"Huh.." Cap grunted, laying his helmeted head back down on a side tilted tire.  
"Guess I've been listening elsewhere a little too hard, eh?"

"That's to be expected." Johnny grinned, taking Cap's pulse. "You're a Cap."  
Gage eyeballed the fender sitting on Hank's legs. "Can you feel your feet?"

Hank coughed, and grinned. "I'm wiggling my toes right now. How's Marco?"

"Pinched nerve and probably whip lash. His neuros suggest pseudo paralysis only. He's had no loss of lower body functions."

"That's good. And Mike?" Cap said, licking dry lips.

"Unconscious, but with improving vital signs. He's probably already at Rampart."  
Johnny said.

Roy suddenly popped his head into another hole of the engine. "Chet's in moderate shock. Matt's got him on O2."

Gage asked. "Is he flying with us?"

"No. Scott's taking him in right now with an I.V. line and their biophone.  
Marco's drifting out there, but his EKG's still looking good." DeSoto remarked.  
Roy looked back the way he had come. "Okay, Matt! We got the jack!"  
and he began setting up the portapower's lifting piston under the most sturdy bar of the seat pinning Cap's legs. He turned back to Johnny, who was still running his hands carefully over Hank's body, looking for problems.  
"The chopper's here, Johnny, waiting for us. Marco's already being loaded up."  
Then he grinned tightly. "Let's get this off of you, Cap. If you feel any new pain at all, tell us." he said. "Matt from 12's is gonna make sure none of that side caves in on ya. I'm going back out to Marco. We'll be waiting for you."

Matt nodded his readiness and so did Hank.

Harmon and Gage began to hand pump the portapower's hydraulics and the metal of the violated engine around them, began to groan as it lifted, centimeter by centimeter...

Debbie -

Finally enough of the rig was lifted to careful untangle the Captain from the wreckage. Johnny began accessing his injury. Cap's legs were bloody bruised and battered, neither were broken, which was a surprise. Johnny relayed to Roy Cap's vitals and began preparing him for a ride to the hospital.

The ride for all was uneventful, which was a relief for Johnny especially. He felt haunted enough by the night's events to have anything else to add to his stress level.

At the hospital, it was determined all but Johnny and Roy would be guests at Rampart. Cap had badly bruised legs that required several stitches, Chet had whiplash and some cracked ribs he tried hiding from Roy during the rescue, Marco, it was determined had pseudo paralysis and with some rest, would completely recover, but Mike was the hold out. He was now in surgery due to a lacerated liver. Station 51 was out of commission as there was neither her crew, squad or engine to function in aiding calls.

Roy left Treatment Room 3 where Cap was being prepped for his move to room 212. Exiting the room, he headed for the doctor's lounge. On arriving, he expected to see Johnny sitting in a chair drinking coffee prepared to rant about the earlier events, but what Roy found was an empty lounge. Walking to the coffee pot, he poured a cup and sat down at the round table. Slowly he sipped the hot liquid and began to relax. He figured Johnny would be along any minute.

Time passed and there was still no sign of Johnny. "Roy, I wanted to let you know Mike is out of surgery." Dixie stated as she walked towards him.

"How is he?" asked Roy, the concern evident in his voice.

"He's critical, Roy, but Doctor Brackett believes he has a good chance of making it. The surgery went well." Dixie said, placing her hand on Roy's shoulder.

The look in Dixie's eyes gave the reassurance he needed to put this night behind him. Now if he could only find his partner. It wasn't like Johnny to disappear when one of their own was missing.

"Dixie, have you seen Johnny?" Roy asked, hoping Dixie could provide a simple explanation for Johnny absence.

"No, Roy. I haven't seen him. Not since he helped us with Chet." Dixie added , unsure about what was going on, but knowing Roy was concerned.

"Ok, well I'd better go find him and let him know Mike's out of surgery." Roy said as he rinsed his coffee mug and set it on the counter by the sink.

"Take care, Roy." Dixie thought to say more but something told her Roy had already left the room.

Giving her a quick nod, Roy left the lounge and headed towards down the hall. A small group of young nurses gathered at Dixie's desk. Their chatter and soft giggles briefly made Roy think Johnny was flirting with some young nurse on staff. Quickly he dismissed the thought, ashamed he'd even garnished the notion. As juvenile as his partner could be at times, Johnny was never shallow where his friends were concerned. Roy continued to comb the hallway, alcoves and any other place in the hospital he felt Johnny may have been. Twenty minutes later, frustrated and worried, Roy headed to the recovery area where Mike was taken after surgery. Reaching the room he looked through a small window of the double doors in hopes of seeing Mike, and there was Johnny, seated on a small stool next to Mike's bed. Roy placed the palm of his hand against one door but stop short from opening it. There was no one else in the room that Roy could see and he observed as Johnny caressed a small bag between his nimble fingers. He held as though it was a priceless treasure. Roy never viewed Johnny as a religious man, yet it appeared as though he was praying. As close as the two were to each other, there were things about Johnny, Roy was not privileged to. Johnny's past being one of them.

Roy witnessed as Johnny looked around, got up and quickly placed the small bag into his pocket. Johnny's face looked haunted by events of the evening. Roy couldn't dismissed a nagging feeling that more was going on with his partner than the accident that had hospitalized their crew members.

Mary Ann -

Roy pushed open the door quietly. "Hey."

Johnny looked up with tired eyes. "Hey. Doc says he's critical." Both men looked at the still figure of their engineer. His face was pale where it wasn't bruised.

Roy stepped closer. "I know Johnny, but Dix said he has a good chance. He'll make it." He placed a hand on the slumped shoulder of his partner.

Johnny rubbed his tired face. "I hope so. It's all so senseless. I still can't believe it happened."

"Me either. When I saw the engine tip over " Roy closed his eyes for a moment.

"But why, Roy? Mike's driven that rig in worse conditions. I'm tellin' ya', I had a bad feeling before we even went out. Nothing felt right about it." Johnny was silent for a moment. "Did you know that Mike's never been in a hospital before?"

"What do you mean?"

"We were talking once and he said he'd never had to be hospitalized for anything. Never been sick or hurt his whole life! And now look what he has to go through."

Roy knew that no amount of reassurance would work on his partner right now. Sometimes Johnny just had to worry and fret at his own pace. Truth be told, even Roy felt too shaken by the evening's event to offer reassurance that would just feel hollow.

"You want to grab some coffee?" asked Roy.

"Nah, you go ahead Roy. I'm going to check on Cap."

"I'll go with you."

As the paramedics approached the door to the room they knew their captain was in, they heard yelling. "Well if you won't find out for me then I'll have to do it myself!"

John and Roy looked at each other, instantly knowing that Captain Stanley had his dander up. As they opened the door, a nurse was holding Stanley's arm as he swung his bruised and bandaged legs over the edge of the bed, attempting to stand. "Sir, you need to stay in bed! You'll pull your stitches if you get up!"

But Hank Stanley would be patient no longer. He pulled his arm from her grasp and pushed himself up.

He winced, but took a few stiff, tentative steps forward, forgetting his IV, the tubing straining from the movement.

The paramedics rushed in as both yelled, "Cap!" They were at his side in an instant steadying their swaying boss.

"Guys, don't you dare stop me! I've waited long enough and no one's telling me a damn thing!" He pulled his arms from their grasp.

"Come on, Cap. Lay down. What do you want to know?" Roy tried calming his superior.

"I'm not laying down until someone tells me about Mike. I've used this stupid call button, but anyone who comes in," he glared at the wide-eyed nurse, "can't tell me anything. All I'm hearing is 'calm down'! Well I'll be calm if someone would give me a little information!" His voice reverberated in the room.

"I'll take it from here, Sheila," came the calm, assertive voice of Kelly Brackett, who was standing in the doorway, chart in hand. The nurse scurried around the doctor and exited the room.

There was silence as all three men froze, looking as if they had been caught misbehaving, particularly the tall one in the middle wearing the gown. The doctor continued to stare at the men. The captain ran his hands down the front of his gown, as if he were straightening his uniform shirt. He pointed his finger at the doctor. "Doctor Brackett, I hope you've got some news about Mike Stoker, otherwise you better get out of my way."

Kel Brackett's mouth twitched. "Yes I do Hank. Mike is out of surgery. He's critical. I won't lie to you - he's not out of the woods yet. His liver was lacerated but we stopped the bleeding. He also has some serious bruising on his chest - trauma from the steering wheel we suspect. We found he has a fractured sternum, so we're monitoring his cardiac function. We're worried about bruising to his heart. So far, his vitals are good. I think that barring any further complications, he should recover."

"I was gonna tell ya' that Cap, if you'd have given me a second," Johnny mumbled quietly.

Captain Stanley stared at the doctor for a moment, somewhat unwilling to give in just yet. He was mulling over what the doctor had told him when Kelly Brackett spoke again. "Now, unless you have any more questions, I'd like to see you lay down. You're bleeding on the floor."

All three firemen instantly looked down to see that, indeed, there were spots of blood on the floor. One of the larger lacerations had started bleeding. "oh, okay " the captain swayed again, allowing Johnny and Roy to help him back into bed.

Doctor Brackett approached the bed as the paramedics stepped away. "Roy, get me some vitals, please."

Roy hurried to obey, waiting for the lecture he knew would surely be brewing, based on the deep frown and furrowed brows of the ER doctor. He watched his captain's face closely as he counted respirations, noting that perspiration had broken out on his forehead.

Johnny quickly checked the IV placement, making sure it had not been pulled loose.

Hank Stanley was suddenly very tired. He relaxed as Roy wrapped the BP cuff around his arm. He no longer had the strength to resist the ministrations but he hated the attention. The stitches and road burn that covered both his legs began to sting and throb. He gasped as Doctor Brackett pulled off one blood-soaked bandage and prodded the painful laceration.

"Well, Captain, that stunt has earned you more sutures." The doctor shook his head.

Hank Stanley just nodded. His eyes were closed tightly as he fought to slow his breathing. He hated his men seeing him like this.

"Doc, pulse 120, respirations 22, BP 120 over 90."

Brackett pushed the call light and said gently, "Hank, I'm going to get you something for the pain you're feeling in those legs, and then we'll take care of these pulled stitches. I want you to calm down. You're not doing Mike any good right now. If you want to be released tomorrow, I expect you to stay in bed all night and rest. You won't be walking on those legs for a couple more days, so you better start getting used to that fact."

Sheila hesitantly poked her head into the room. "Sheila, please get Captain Stanley 10 milligrams of MS. He won't be giving you any more trouble tonight, will you, captain?" asked Kel.

Hank Stanley opened his eyes briefly, looked at the doctor, then over to the nurse and shook his head. He closed his eyes again, clenching his jaw in frustration and pain.

The nurse left to get the medication and Doctor Brackett patted Stanley's shoulder. "I'll be back in a few minutes after that starts to take effect. Then I'll do the sutures."

He gestured for both paramedics to follow.

"Cap, we'll stop by tomorrow and check on you." Roy gave his captain's arm a quick pat.

"If you need anything, Cap, just let us know." Johnny saw Hank nod, as he stepped away from the bed and followed Roy and Brackett out.

Sheila walked by with a syringe and pushed the door open after peeking in to make sure her charge was still in bed.

Johnny and Roy leaned heavily against the wall facing Doctor Brackett. Johnny ran his hand through his tangled hair and exhaled, "Wow, I haven't seen Cap that riled in a long time."

"Me either," agreed Roy.

"He's something else, that's for sure," Brackett said shaking his head. "He sure got worked up over Mike."

Johnny leaned forward, placing his hands on his hips. "Well Mike's his engineer, Doc."

"That's right," Roy said defensively.

Brackett looked at the two bedraggled men in front of him, realizing that both felt the explanation Johnny gave summed up and justified the injured captain's reaction. He was sure if he pushed for more of an explanation, he would probably just get more confused, so he let it drop.

"It's time for both of you to get some rest. This has been a pretty traumatic evening for both of you. Heck of a job, guys, really." Brackett smiled. "Why don't you take off for now?"

The paramedics shook their heads in perfect unison. "No," they both said.

Johnny continued, "We'll be staying with Mike and Cap."

Roy nodded his agreement and they both quickly started down the hall before the doctor could begin to argue.

Laura -

Slowly, the two weary paramedics make their way to the lounge to await further word on their crewmates. Entering quietly, they were both grateful the room was empty.

Roy made his way over to the coffee pot, while Johnny collapsed onto the couch.

"Johnny...coffee? "

Without picking up his head, he answered softly. "No thanks."

When Roy sat down next to his partner, he could sense the overwhelming emotion that he knew Johnny was struggling with. The only other time he remembered Johnny being that upset was when his friend Drew was seriously injured and subsequently died.

"Johnny...they' re all gonna be okay, you know."

"I know...it's just..."

Roy looked at his best friend in understanding. He felt the same way as Johnny currently did,it was just that he didn't wear his heart on his sleeve as readily as his partner did.

After a few moments of silence, the door opened and both paramedics looked up.

"Chief McConnikee," they both said in unison.

"DeSoto...Gage. How are you both holding up?"

Tired and upset, Johnny answers first. "Better than the rest of our crew."

"We're okay, Chief...thanks for asking. Everyone's stable, but Mike Stoker is in critical condition."

The Chief let out a sigh. "I've seen some of the preliminary reports. You boys did a hell of a job out there...under some pretty devastating circumstances, too."

"I suppose. Chief...what' s going to happen now? Our squad and engine are both totaled."

"I don't want you boys to worry about a thing...take some time off. Your station will probably be closed for a few weeks and the crews re-  
assigned...temporarily, of course."

Johnny was momentarily jolted by the news. "Re-assigned? "

Roy shot Johnny a look that told him to relax...and to keep breathing.

"Well, I better get going. I just wanted to check in with the two of you. Please keep me posted on things...and if there's anything I can do for you fellas."

"Thanks, Chief...it means a lot."

After shaking hands with the two paramedics, McConnikee left the room.

"Re-assigned, Roy?"

"Don't get upset, Johnny...you heard the man...it's only temporary."

"But what if they split us up?"

"You know what, Johnny...I'm not going to worry about that right now, and besides, it's out of our hands. We don't know *what's* going to happen. Let's just get through tonight, alright partner?"

Johnny looked at Roy and nodded his head. "You're right, Pally...let' s just get through tonight."

Katy S.  
-

'Easier said than done.'  
The feeling of 'it's not over yet, wait for it ...' rolled through Johnny's head. He jerked awake on the couch of the lounge when the door opened.

"Sorry, Johnny," Dixie said, "I need some coffee."  
Johnny stretched and then rubbed his eyes. "Where's Roy?" He leaned forward and put his elbows on his knees, clasping his hands in front of him as if in prayer.  
"He was walking Joanne out to the car last I saw. You must have fallen asleep before she showed up." Dixie sipped on her mug as she sat down at the table. "I think she's as upset over the accident as you guys are."  
"Yea," Johnny stared vacantly at the floor. This night had been horrible. He couldn't believe their luck. At this moment in time, he was torn. Torn between being relieved it wasn't them and sorry it was his station mates. How do you deal with feelings like that? The lounge door swung open and Roy entered. "Joanne okay?"  
"Yea, she's headed back home." He pulled a mug off the shelf and poured himself a coffee. "I really don't want this ..." he said as he took it over to the table to sit beside Dixie. "Just something to keep my hands busy I guess." A nurse poked her head in the door. "Miss McCall?"  
"Yes?"  
"Doctor Brackett needs you in trauma room 3 right away."  
"Right behind you," Dixie replied standing. She put her hand on Roy's shoulder. They shared a look and then she hurried out the door. The room was silent. Neither man wanted to break that silence, they only wanted to enjoy it. Johnny sat back on the couch pulling his folded hands onto his stomach. He leaned his head back and stared at the ceiling.

Erin -

"Why am I waiting for the other shoe to drop?" He whispered. He rolled his head to look at his partner, "is this all my fault?"

Johnny's whispered words fell on his partner's ears. Roy immediately became more concerned, "Johnny, why do you think this all your fault?  
None of us had control over what happened."

Johnny's eyes were full of pain as he sat up and faced Roy, "But I had a feeling something bad was going to happen. If only I could have convinced Cap to call us down none of this would have happened.  
Mike is fighting for his life because I wouldn't listen to my feelings. What else am I supposed to think?"  
Johnny's heartfelt explanation left Roy speechless.

At the same time out in the hall Dixie asked, "Is it Mike Stoker?"  
The nurse who had come to get her shook her head sadly, "Yes. He seems to be fighting with everybody. We can't even tell if he's actually seeing us or what is going on."  
"As if they needed anything else to deal with tonight. Alright see if Hank Stanley is up to being semi-mobile. As close knit as this group is we're going to need outside help with this one."  
"Yes ma'am."  
"Then send someone to retrieve John Gage and Roy DeSoto. If Mike is fighting us maybe the voices of his crew will help him."  
"Yes ma'am."  
The nurse hurried away as Dixie opened the trauma room door. Her jaw dropped at the scene that greeted her.

Patti -

Stoker had long since been extubated following his surgery. That had been done when he had hit the recovery room. The only reason he was in a trauma room now was because all the available beds in CCU were full, with worse cardiac patients. And Mike wasn't a heart case.

::Yet.:: thought Dixie, setting her lips in a firm line. Already, she could hear sounds of weak physical struggle and an irregular audible on Mike's monitoring twelve lead EKG. Kel had just finished tying soft restraints on Mike's ankles and wrists to the bed frame with a couple of orderlies. All the while, he was talking to him. "Mike... Mike.. calm down. You're almost awake. Can you hear me? What's hurting? Can you tell me that?" he shouted firmly into the engineer's ear as he set a fast stethoscope against Stoker's sweating chest.

He got only groans with no eye tracking and a fluttery beat apically around 150. Crackling rales were present and clearly mediastinal.

The lower half of his abdomen was still stained betadine yellow from where the surgical team had gone in to repair the tear in Mike's liver and other exploratory steps searching for hidden injuries. They had found none past the one. So Dr. Brackett concentrated his exam on Mike's chest, trying to locate the problem. "Dix." he said. "Put him on C.P.A.P.  
assisting. He might be building up pulmonary contusions underneath the area of his sprung sternum. Breath sounds are diminished but still equal.  
Just the mask, he's still got a gag. The last thing we want is for him to go into full respiratory distress syndrome. If he doesn't calm down in a minute or so, get us set for a rapid sequence intubation. I'll tube him only as a last resort so we can get our new pictures to figure out what's happening another way."

"Right away, Kel. The gang's on their way. Just like you requested." she said, looking at the wall where a white light had just gone on. That was the nurse's signal that Hank and the others had been informed to hurry on in despite the after visiting hours.

"Good. Joe's not the only one who thinks there's something to be said for close and direct familiarity and contact with friends. I'm a firm advocate."

"Especially since Mike may not know he's even here in a hospital." Dixie nodded, making sure the straps over the breathing mask were secure and set at light positive pressure to further support Stoker's blood oxygen levels. "PSO2's still 98%"

"May not know?" Brackett retorted, still surveying Mike's running EKG strip.  
"I saw no notes on his chart about mental aberration or head injury."

"There ARE none." McCall clarified. "I meant that he's never been a hospital patient before. Ever. Never in his whole life."

"Never? Dix, he's a firefighter."

Dix held out a tense hand at his chart. "Just look there. Past his initial fire department exam and blood type testing forms, you've got just a birth certificate." she said dryly, a smile quirking the corner of her mouth.

Kel blinked. "No firefighter's that perfect."

Dixie's light defense grew. "Did you see any scars on him? At all?"

"Well, no. Not specifically.." Brackett said, looking down at Mike's uncovered torso again.

"That's because he doesn't have any." Dixie said, keeping her hand on Mike's forehead. On a whim, she began singing, softly.

And Stoker calmed down instantly, his eyes still rolling slowly in their sockets.

"Okay. He's responsive now to verbal." he sighed. "Somewhat."  
Kel kept his eyes on the monitor. "Keep him still. Just like you're doing. I want thirty seconds of clear tape." he ordered. The irregular arrythmia died away to intermittent, making Brackett relax. "He's not tamponading or developing aortic problems. I'm not hearing any definite pericardial friction rubs with Kussmaul's or any Ewart's sign with developing aortic regurgitation." Kel said firmly as he checked and double checked Mike's heart and lung sounds. "He's got an area of dullness to percussion at the tip of the left scapula..." he said, log rolling Mike over on the bed as far as the fleece restraints would allow. "..and no clear rise in JVP on inspiration forming. See?" he said as he pointed to the flat veins in Mike's neck that weren't ballooning out when the CPAP helped him breathe in on inspirations.

"When the paramedics get here, have one of them draw bloods and have the lab run a creatine kinase and isoenzyme levels series, a CBC with differential, a PT, a PTT, an antinuclear antibody assay, and an erythrocyte sedimentation rate. I want to make sure this is lung bruising and not A.V. nodal effectation."

"Yes, doctor." Dix sang quietly.

Roy and Johnny entered the room, quickly, pushing in Hank in a wheel chair.

"Doc?" Johnny asked quickly, concerned.

All three of them relaxed just a little when they saw the crash cart was still in its covered place against the wall.

"He's fine, guys. Just waking up in a half state. Feel like relieving Dixie of that serenade so I can get my nurse back?" he quipped.

Immediately, Roy and Johnny and Cap gripped Mike's arms,  
and gripped his face with hands as they launched into firm reassurances that also, got through the engineer's anesthetic haze.

DeSoto was ever practical. "Problems, doc?"

"None serious. I'm suspecting deepening pulmonary contusion at this point in the game, easily off set by that breathing help we've placed."

"Want a vitals set?" Gage asked, reaching for the cuff lying on Kel's post surgical tray.

"Yes. Also take that B.P. in both arms. Look for a differential. There's still a slight chance of aortic involvement."

"Right, doc." he whispered, letting Hank's and Roy's voices be the louder ones to talk.

Mike relaxed even further, finally ending his mild fighting as he listened.  
His eyes closed behind tired lids and he sighed.

Cap kept on gripping Mike's forehead. "That's it, Mike. You sleep now.  
We're not.." he broke off at Dixie's glare. "I mean Roy and Johnny aren't going anywhere. Chet's fine. He's already out of hypothermia.  
Turn's out he was too cold on top of that shoulder he didn't know he dislocated."

"He what?" Gage and Roy both asked at the same time.

Johnny's mouth set into a thin line. "I knew he was hiding som-"

Brackett interrupted him. "Dix, let's stave off more volume depletion, right now. Confirm type and cross him off the I.V. line then set up a piggy back TKO blood transfusion. Then I want you to begin another NS with dobutamine at 0.5-1 mcg/kg/min IV and titrate until you hear better heart against lung compliance in his pericardium by auscultation. That med will definitely get his heart, stroke volume and cardiac output increasing without dilating the blood vessels in the rest of his body where any internal lung bleeding we don't know about yet, might take hold."

McCall nodded. "Yes, Dr. Brackett. Right away."

Johnny tried to smile around his I'm gonna kill Chet expression. "You have a medication that acts like a chemical mast suit? I didn't know you guys had stuff like that in your drugbox arsenal.."

Kel smiled. "It's new. And I'm the first doctor using it so far. Mike's my third patient this month to fit the profile for its use."

"Does it work?" Johnny gaped, not disrespectfully.

"Does water put out a fire?" he replied evenly, with a sharp look.

That ended discussion and the immediate used to be emergency in the room, quite neatly.

The five fell to quiet discussion over Stoker's sleeping form lying under the blankets and sheets while the xray machine was wheeled back in for new chest films.

Roy said..

Mary Ann -

"Well, he seems to resting better now. That's a relief." Roy pushed Hank's wheelchair as everyone stepped out of the room to let X-ray get the films Brackett had ordered.

Hank Stanley sighed heavily. "I just don't like seeing him lying there in a hospital bed. I still can't believe it happened."

Roy moved in front of his captain, "It was just an accident Cap, and Mike will be alright."

Stanley nodded, but still looked troubled and unconvinced that his engineer and friend was on the mend. He shifted uncomfortably in the wheelchair, anxious to get back into the room with Mike.

Kelly Brackett and Dixie exchanged glances, with Kel giving her a nod. Dixie leaned into Cap's view. "Captain Stanley, I'm going to take you back to your room."

"What? I just got here. Uh -uh." He shifted and sat up in the wheelchair.

Roy and Johnny exchanged glances, but both silently agreed this was a fight better left to Dixie and Brackett. They saw the battle of wills was just about to start.

"Captain, you need to rest now. Mike's just going to sleep," Dixie stated coolly.

Stanley's shoulders straightened and he leaned forward, "I don't care. I want to be here."

"Hank", Dixie said tartly, "you might be the captain at Station 51, but here, I'm in charge."

Cap glared at her for a moment then turned to his two paramedics hoping for words of support. Instead both nodded silently at Dixie's statement. He gave a disgusted grunt and turned to Brackett, who was nodding along with the paramedics. "Look, Doc, I'll be real quiet. Just a little longer?"

Kelly Brackett's mouth twitched. "Sorry Hank. You haven't even gotten any real uninterrupted rest yourself. I want you back in bed, with your legs up."

"My legs feel fine!" Stanley retorted.

"That's the MS talking! I just stitched you up again, or don't you remember that?" Brackett stared down at the captain.

Now seemed to be the perfect time for Johnny to jump in. "Cap, I think they win this round." He looked at Brackett and Dixie. "I'll take him and get him settled. Roy and I will be here if anything changes, Cap."

Stanley slumped, defeated, as Johnny started pushing the wheelchair. "What kind of hospital is this anyway " he continued to complain as they moved down the hall, with Johnny giving the group an apologetic shrug.

Roy felt the need to explain. "He's just worried. He knows Mike's never been hurt or in a hospital before and "

Dixie smiled. "It's okay, Roy. I'd be worried if Hank Stanley didn't give me some backtalk."

Brackett chuckled and said,

Sherry -

"I guess Hank doesn't know you as well as the rest of us Dix, *we* all know you can't win goin' up against you."  
"And don't you forget it." Dixie said, smiling.  
"Doc, is it okay if me and Roy go sit with Mike for a little bit, after the x-rays are taken? You saw how worried Cap was, maybe if we can convince him that Stoke's gonna be alright, maybe he won't give you guys any more trouble."  
"*If* we can convince him. Can you let us know about the x-rays so we can tell 'im?" Roy asked.  
Nodding his head, Kel replied, "Sure guys, I'll have them put a rush on it and I'll get back to you as soon as I can. And yeah, you guys can stay with Mike until I get the results back."  
"Thanks Doc." Johnny said.  
With that, Doctor Brackett walked away from the paramedics, leaving them to wait till the x-ray tech left the room.

Laura -  
Roy stood quietly observing Johnny for a few moments. His partner was leaning slumped against the wall.

"Johnny, you look lousy. Are you sure you're okay?"

The dark-haired paramedic looked up at his partner and answered in a rather irritated tone. "I'm just dandy, Roy. Four of my good friends almost died tonight...forgive me if I don't look so chipper.  
And let me be the first one to tell you that you don't look so good yourself."

"Johnny, that's not what I mean. I'm talking about how you look like you have the weight of the world on your shoulders. From what you said to me before...and how you're acting...it seems like you honestly believe that this whole thing was your fault...and that you could have somehow prevented it."

Johnny responded to his partner this time in a calmer, softer tone. "Roy, you know how Chet's always teasing me about my instincts...well, this time I shoulda listened to my instincts...I woulda been right."

The door to Mike's treatment room opened and the X-ray tech came out. Both paramedics looked up anxiously at the man.

Johnny spoke first. "How's he doing?"

"Well, he seems to be stable. Hopefully, these pictures will help Brackett and Early figure out what's going on with your friend. See you guys later."

As the X-ray tech was walking away, Brackett approached him.

"All done, Doc. I should have them for you in about 15 minutes."

"Thanks, Tony." The doctor walks over to the exhausted paramedics. "Guys, I think that's enough for the night...go home.  
Captain Stanley is stable,and so are Chet and Marco. Mike seems to be holding his own."

Johnny looked like he was about to lose it. Sensing his partner's volatile state, Roy interceded.

"Doc, we have no way back to the station...our squad was totaled in the accident."

Brackett looked at the two paramedics and realized just how close the two of them must have come to being 51's fifth and sixth victims in this incident.

Katy - A throat cleared at the end of the hallway. The three men looked up and saw Mike's wife standing at the corner. John and Roy took a step toward her. She watched their expressions.

"Is he okay, guys?"

"Mrs. Stoker?" Brackett walked over to her stretching his hand out. "I'm Doctor Brackett, Mike's physician. Pleased to meet you." She took the offered hand and shook it.

"Will he be okay?"

"He's in critical condition but doing okay for now. We're waiting for his current x-rays. He's had surgery to repair a tear in his liver and we have him hooked up to a heart monitor to keep an eye on that. We've given him something so that his heart doesn't have to work so hard and he has lost a lot of blood, so he's getting blood. It's touch and go for the moment, but he'll be okay."

She looked into Roy's blue eyes and then into Johnny's. Johnny lowered his head guiltily and leaned heavily on the wall.

"Can I see him?"

"In a minute. We have a tech crew in there with him at the moment, so as soon as they're done you can go in." Brackett looked at the two paramedics, "I'm gonna go check on Hank. I want to make sure he hasn't torn those stitches out again."

"Thanks, Doc," both men responded.

Mike's wife stepped over to her husband's station members, not taking her eyes off Johnny. Roy pulled a chair over for her to sit in. Johnny refused to look her in the eye, his guilt weighing heavily on his shoulders. Roy helped her into the chair.

"Ah, I'm gonna go call Joanne and have her come back. I don't want you sitting here by yourself."

"Thanks Roy," she responded. When his footsteps receded she spoke to the dark haired paramedic. "What happened, Johnny? You won't look me in the eye." He hesitated a moment and then looked into the pretty woman's face. He could see why Mike loved her, she was something to see.

"The wind was really bad. My gut told me there was going to be trouble and I didn't listen to it. We should have waited." He slid down the wall next to her chair putting his hands into his hair and resting his elbows on his knees.

"This doesn't sound like you, John." She put her hand on his shoulder. "I would expect this of Roy, but not you. Since when have you guys ever 'waited' when someone was in trouble?"

Johnny nodded, "I guess you're right. It was horrible to see though. All four of the guys ..." he let the sentence drop.

"I saw Hank's wife on the way up. Chet and Marco are doing okay I hear, too." She pulled his hands away from his face and saw that his eyes were red rimmed and full of tears. "It's not your fault."

"But ..." She took hold of his hand and squeezed it.

"Look, you can't control the wind any more than you can control the sun. Now stop blaming yourself."

"That's what I've been telling him," Roy said as he entered the hallway. "Joanne will be here in a few minutes. Her mom will stay with the kids so she can be with you."

"Thanks, Roy."

Several people filed out of Mike's room followed by Dixie. Mike's wife and Johnny stood up.

"Can we go in now?" Johnny asked.

"Yea, only for a little bit though. You two should go home, you look like crap."

"She's right you know," Mike's wife grinned at the two men.

"No, we'll stick around here for a little while." Roy said.

"Suit yourself, I just don't have any spare rooms for exhausted paramedics," Dixie smiled. "Mike is gonna be fine."

Erin -

The nervous trio walked into Mike's room. Mike's wife gasped at the sight of her husband surrounded by so much medical equipment. "Oh my...Mike."

Instinctively, Roy and Johnny checked the various monitors. Both let out a loud sigh of relief when they saw that Mike was stable. Roy took Mike's wife's hand since he was closest to her. "He's going to be just fine. Some time and some TLC and he'll be back on his feet and back to being himself in no time."

Mike's wife knew that Roy and Johnny wouldn't lie to her.  
"Y-you mean it?"

Johnny pasted his best Gage grin on and said, "Of course we do."

Mike's wife let out a sigh of relief as she sat down, "Thank goodness."

Before anybody could say anything else, the door to Mike's room flew open again. Roy and Johnny quickly snapped around not sure what to expect. Dixie ran in, "Guys, I need you upstairs."

Worried Mike's wife asked, "Dixie, is everything okay?"

Dixie replied quickly, "Everything's fine. The guys are okay, but there is a certain ornery Captain that isn't taking my nurses' word that Mike is okay."

Mike's wife chuckled lightly, "Boys, tell Hank everything is fine.  
I'll stop up and see him later."

Roy said, "You bet."

Johnny turned back toward the sleeping engineer. "You just worry about getting better Mike, we'll take care of Cap."

Mike seemed to relax more as the guys turned and quickly left with Dixie.

Johnny asked, "Dix, what room?"

"414. You two are our last hope of getting him to rest without full sedation."

Roy said, "We'll take care of him."

The guys swept away the fact that they were tired and took off at full speed towards the steps. Everybody that was in their way smartly moved.  
The guys would have knocked them over if they didn't. In less then two minutes the guys were on the fourth floor.

It wasn't hard to find Hank's room. As soon as they opened the door they heard, "I don't care what you say! I want to know how my engineer is before I do anything else."Roy and Johnny looked at each other and quickly sped toward their agitated Captain's room.

Once they were there, Roy said to the nurse who had been trying in vain to calm Hank down, "We'll take care of him from here."

The nurse said smugly, "Good luck." and left.

Johnny closed the door. Hank seemed to calm immediately as the guys stood on either side of his bed. His voice shook slightly as he asked, "How is he?"

Roy said calmly, "He's going to be just fine, Cap. We just left him. He seems to be resting comfortably. The surgery went fine. His wife is with him."

Hank laid his head back on the pillow, "Thank goodness."

Johnny tried to hide the sadness in his eyes, "Now Cap, you know you have to be nice to the nurses around here."

Hank blushed, "I know. I guess with everything that happened, I just flipped. Needed to hear it from you two."

Roy said, "Cap, everybody's gonna be fine."

Hank sat back up and looked at his two paramedics. "How are you two?"

Roy and Johnny scoffed but Hank's glare wouldn't let them go.

Roy answered first, "Physically okay. Mentally and emotionally drained."

Johnny took a quick breath, "Physically beat. Mentally and..."  
Johnny's breath caught in his throat, "Beating myself up."

Hank focused on his youngest charge, "John, look at me." Johnny looked Hank in the eye. Hank continued, "None of this is your fault, pal. I know we're in pieces now, but we'll be okay. Listen to your Cap. Go back to Roy's get some rest and if you want, we can talk about things more tomorrow. Right now you need to relax."

Johnny tried to relax but still couldn't find his voice. Hank continued, "Pal, trust me. Nobody blames you for any of this."

Johnny finally asked shaken, "Are you sure?"

Hank took the young man's hands, "I'm positive, pal." Hank looked at his two medics, "Now listen to your Captain, GO HOME!  
Rest, sleep, eat. Got it?"

Roy and Johnny chuckled as they both answered, "Yes, Cap."

Roy added, "Call us if you need anything."

Hank yawned, "Will do. Now get out of here, ya twits."

Roy and Johnny chuckled as they left Hank's room. Patti -

Gage whispered as the door shut. "Say, Roy?"

"Yeah?"

"I'd be lying to you if I said I wasn't feeling tired to the core. Man.." Johnny groaned, rubbing his sore eyes, neck and arms. Sighing, he dragged the closest waiting room chair over against the wall and flopped down wearily.

DeSoto sank with him into a patient chair parked next to Hank's shut door. "Do we need to go through an evaluation ourselves?"

Gage stopped his self ministrations and looked up.  
"For what?"

"For emotional reasons. A critical incident debriefing session." Roy said frankly.

"I'm not hurt.. I...I... well okay, I'm a little raw on the inside. But we didn't lose anybody today, like Cap said. Do you feel I need to see a shrink about all this?"  
he asked honestly, still seeking reassurance in the worse way.

Roy met his partner's eyes shyly, completely un-paramedic.  
"Not particularly. You're just fried out physically and that thinned your protective shell out a bit. Nothing that a little sleep and food and one long hot shower, won't cure."

"Okay. Fixing part one right now. Wake me up when Dixie shows up for Cap's next vitals check." And he immediately slumped into a hap hazard slouch and began snoring loudly.

"Johnny?" DeSoto stared. "Uh..Johnny.. I don't think the nurses and doctors will appreciate having a pair of bloody firemen crashed along the wall like this. Let's move to a resident's bunk."  
He shoved Gage's limp arm. "Hey,..can you hear me?"

Johnny was out, deep in a recovering coma of sleep. The relaxation that had taken over his face made it younger by at least ten years.

Roy smiled. "Guess you can't, by clear choice." he grinned.

Carefully, he rose and bent over Johnny and picked him up into his arms and gently carried him into a resident's bed closet and stretched him out onto an unused cot. Sighing lightly, Johnny turned onto his side and konked out again. "Cap.. I'm..doing what you asked.. Now leave me be in p-..." Gage grumbled fuzzily..

*Snore*

Sliding a light blanket over Gage, Roy pulled up a chair in the little room by his bedside as he pulled out their squad HT from his pocket, and slowly turned it off. ::We're not gonna be on duty for a long, long time, I'm afraid.:: He thought. ::I should go shower.. But I don't want to get too far away from either one of t-.:: Roy fell asleep in mid thought.

Dixie McCall whistled quietly as she organized the items on her TPR tray as she left Hank's room. Looking around, she tried to locate Roy and Johnny but found nothing but their helmets resting on two chairs by Hank's door.

Leaving the tray on a nearby crash cart, Dixie grinned when she spotted dried blood on the door knob leading into the resident's bunkroom.  
"Now that was smart. Hospital administrators can't complain about them now. Poor fellas, they must be zonked out by now." Thinking on a game plan, Dixie headed softly to the cafeteria for a lot of food.

The rich smell of pizza woke Johnny first. ::Sausage?:: He opened his eyes, smiling. "Hey, Marco. I know it's your time to cook but this is too m-" he broke off and startled when severe disorientation and full memory returned. "Gah..." Johnny groaned, bolting sharply upright. "I'm still at Rampart. And I hate knowing the reason why.." he sighed heavily.

DeSoto, was snoring next to him, propped against a shelf full of unused surgical scrubs where he was seated awkwardly in a tipped back metal chair.

"Rise and shine..." Gage said loudly, lifting both tray lids off the platters full of cold pizza. "FooOOOood." he shouted cheerily. "Come on, Roy.  
Wake up. Dixie has already been here and gone.. Look.."  
he said, picking up a carbon copy of patient care notes. "She even left us everybody's progress reports to mull over while we eat."

Roy startled badly, jumping, then groaning at every bruise and ache he had stiffening. He snuffled and wiped his mouth. "Anything to drink? Don't think I can. I'm a little nauseated to tell you the truth."

Gage tossed his head around in amusement, eyeing up their dim surroundings. "She's covered that, too. There are two bags of D5W sitting right over here. Needles and tubing, too."

"No way.. She can't do that.."

"She just did.. er.. maybe she did sometime last night." Johnny snorted,  
finding the stunt completely hilarious. "Want to stick me first? I'll get you next."

"Sure."

"In my right arm. While you're doing that, I'll read up for the both of us."  
he said, waving the patient care notes meaningfully. "Who do you want to know about first?"

"Mike." Roy said instantly, sleepily swabbing down Johnny's arm with the supplies Dixie had left neatly laid out. "He was the worst. Not even breathing right."

"Well he is now." Gage said, holding still while DeSoto pegged the antecubital vein in the fold of his elbow.."UmmpHH." he said at the sting. "He was pulled off CPAP at three this morning. Vitals holding. No signs of tachycardia developing, or respiratory- Put me on wide open, pal. I'm really dry."

"Coming right up." Roy said, taping off Gage's I.V. line. "Okay, do me. My tongue's pure sawdust here."

"Okay, hang on. Hang on, I'll get ya. Just let me finishing chewing here.  
I can't eat and report at the same time ya know. Shutup and eat your pizza while I get yours in.." he snapped.

"It's a wonder Dixie trusted us not to kill ourselves with these things."  
Roy scoffed grumpily as Johnny slid in a twelve gauge catheter and got a flow going from the I.V. stand with his name on it.

"No paramedic has ever killed his partner..." Johnny insisted, still chipmunk cheeked with pizza, while he started checking and double checking the flow of his intravenous fluid to reassure himself that the water and sugar were flowing into his own veins at top aperature. "Okay, yours is going good. Tape it off.."

"Hey, I taped yours off."

"I'm busy.." said Johnny, waving the reports around like banners.  
"Do you wanna hear how they're doing or don'tcha?" Johnny glared.

Roy moused down and began biting off strips of tape to lay across his panted leg neatly while he held down his own I.V. line catheter.  
"Well, go on then, I'm listening!"

"Shush..!" Gage said, stuffing a piece of folded pizza into Roy's mouth to quiet him down instantly. "I'm about to start up again."

And Johnny proceeded to rattle off vital signs, doctor's notes,  
surgical notes and general test results as fast as he could gather in the information with his eyes. Eventually, their appetites were appeased, all three of them.

Soon, sleep returned to the tiny, overheated, dank cubicle. But the two paramedic firefighters holed up inside of it, were smiling finally.

Mary Ann -

"God bless Joanne DeSoto." Johnny whispered.

"Hmmm?" Roy sat up blearily and looked at his partner who held up a neat stack of folded, clean clothes along with a note.

Johnny grinned and started to read the note aloud. "Honey?" Looking at Roy he gasped. "Roy, your wife's sweet on me!"

Snatching the note, Roy grumbled, "Give me that!" Rubbing his eyes he continued to read. "We must have just missed her. She had to head home but wanted to bring by some clothes. She even stopped at your apartment. You owe her big, junior."

Johnny nodded. "Painting the guestroom or fixing the handrail on the stairs?"

"I'm betting the guestroom. Let's get out of here. You definitely need a shower." Roy pulled the tape from his arm and quickly removed the IV cannula, placed a folded piece of gauze on the puncture site then handed the bandage to his partner to apply.

"I'm not the only cause of the aroma in this room, you know " Johnny grumped as he removed his own IV line and let Roy apply the gauze and bandage.

Refreshed from their quick showers the paramedic duo headed to make their own rounds to check on the status of their stationmates, deciding to see Chet and Marco first. Roy quietly pushed the door open to reveal Chet sleeping, slumped uncomfortably in the hard vinyl chair next to Marco's bed. His right arm hung in a sling, and his neck was wrapped in a soft collar. Despite Chet's apparent discomfort, he snored softly. The men turned their attention to Marco who laid flat on his back in bed, his neck also supported by a soft collar. He was hooked to a heart monitor that beeped softly, along with an IV running two different fluids into his arm. A purple bruise peeked from beneath a large bandage on his forehead.

"Aww, man.." Johnny couldn't help but utter at the sight of their two friends.

Chet startled awake. "Wha-?" He groaned as he tried to sit up looking over at Marco. "Hey, guys? Marco okay?"

Roy placed a hand on Chet's shoulder to still any further movement. "Yes he is. How long have you been in this chair?"

Chet blinked and looked at Marco. "I don't know. A while I guess."

Johnny shook his head. "Let's get you back in bed. Can you stand?"

Chet gave him an irritated look. "I got here by myself, Gage. No big deal." He moved to stand but gasped and sat back. "Okay. I seemed to have stiffened up a bit." He closed his eyes and groaned.

Roy and Johnny helped the man to his feet, then shuffled him slowly to his own bed where he lay back with one last groan. "Man, I pulled muscles I didn't know I had." He rested his head back on his pillow, exhausted.

"Sleeping in that chair didn't help, Chet."

Chet tried to glance over at his friend but his neck prevented it. "Marco had a bad night, man. He was hurting."

The paramedics nodded but didn't speak as they watched Chet drift back to sleep as he finally found a comfortable position. They moved to Marco's side when they saw him stir.

"Hey, Marco." Johnny smiled. "How are you doing, amigo?"

Marco Lopez accepted the sip of water Roy offered. "I don't really know to tell you the truth. I hurt all over, but I got some good stuff last night." He tested his fingers and toes by wiggling and stretching. "Just glad to be able to do that. I admit it guys, I've never been so scared in my life. I woke up and I couldn't move and it was dark "

"Yeah, we know. You had every right to be scared." Roy patted his shoulder.

"I'd rather fight a three alarm fire any day. How are the guys?"

"We're on our way to check on Cap. He was doing pretty well last night, but just really worried about everyone. He has some bad road burn and lacerations on his legs, but he was lucky. He might get to go home today if Brackett lets him. He hasn't exactly been a model patient." Johnny grinned. "And Mike's holding his own. He stabilized last night after giving us a bit of a scare."

Marco was quickly tiring as evidenced by his drooping eyelids. "Glad he's doing better." He moved his eyes towards Chet's bed, unable to turn his head to look. "I was worried about Chet. He had a bad night and was really hurting."

Roy and Johnny exchanged amused glances at the familiar words and watched Marco fall back asleep. They both knew the bond these two firemen shared was every bit as tight as their own. It was just how things worked. Partners who watched each other's backs, whether they be paramedics, hose-jockeys, or Captains and Engineers.

Laura -

Leaving Chet and Marco's room, the two paramedics made their way to see their Captain. Entering his room, they saw a calmer and well-  
rested captain Stanley sitting up in his bed and talking to Doctor Brackett.

"Hey Cap," they both called out in unison.

"Roy...John. You guys are here early."

Brackett looked first at the two paramedics and then at Hank before smiling wistfully. "They never left, Hank."

"You mean you guys have been here all night?"

Roy smiled at his boss. "Where else *would* we be, Cap?"

Patting Hank on the shoulder, Kel smiled. "I'll be back to check on you later. Roy, Johnny...I'd suggest that you find your way home soon...and get some much needed rest."

After Brackett left the room, the two medics came closer to Hank's bed and pulled up some chairs.

"You're looking better, Cap. Feeling better?"

"I am, John. Doctor Brackett informed me that Mike is stable and so are Chet and Marco." Hank took a moment to observe his two friends. "I couldn't imagine how much of a nightmare this whole thing must have been for you two."

Roy, ever the practical one, answered. "Well truthfully...it wasn't easy Cap, but we did what we needed to do to get through it. Let's just be glad that we all *did* manage to get through it."

After visiting with Hank for awhile, Roy and Johnny decided to head out.

"We'll be by later, Cap."

"Okay Roy. Do me a favor, fellas...take care of yourselves."

Johnny smiled wearily before answering. "We'll do our best."

Leaving Hank's room, they headed to the ICU to try to see Mike. They were told that he was presently stable, but needed rest, but they could come back later in the day to see him. So, they headed back downstairs. Arriving in the ER, they were greeted by Officer Vince Howard.

"Gentlemen, I have my orders to make sure that you arrive safely back to your station. I am your personal chauffeur."

Too tired to argue, the two paramedics wearily followed Vince out to his patrol car. The trip back to the station was done in silence.

Pulling around to the back of the station, Vince dropped off his passengers.

"Get some rest fellas. The two of you have an awful lot of people concerned about you."

Johnny, who was never at a loss for words could only nod his his head.

"Thanks for the lift, Vince."

"No problem, Roy."

Once Vince was gone, Roy and Johnny stood in the parking lot for a few moments pondering what to do next.

"Roy...what...what do we do now?"

The senior paramedic let out a slight chuckle. "I was kinda hoping that you'd have some ideas."

Johnny shook his head. "Sorry, partner...I'm toast."

"Well...I suppose we could always just crash here at the station for awhile. It's not like we're gonna have anyone or anything bothering us."

Nodding his head in agreement, Johnny followed his partner into the station.

Before entering the dorms, they stopped in the kitchen and looked around. Everything was still left as it had been from the evening before when they were called out on that fateful run.

"Well Pally...let's get some sleep."

"Right behind ya, Junior."

Sherry -

The two overly exhausted paramedics made their way to the dorm, and their beds, in hopes of getting some much needed sleep. Taking off his clothes and lying them on the foot of his bed, Roy climbed in and pulled the covers up to his neck, letting out a long sigh.  
"Feels *so* good to be in the bed, huh Johnny."  
When his partner didn't answer, Roy turned his head and looked in the direction of his friend...he saw Johnny, just sitting on his bunk, not even attempting to get in the bed and try to get any rest. He saw the tears that had started to roll down Johnny's face.  
**Oh great, he's blamin' himself for this**  
Sitting back up in bed, Roy turned on his side and leaned on his elbow, as he softly said, "The guys are gonna be okay Junior. And if you're blamin' yourself for this...stop it...now...it isn't your fault."  
Johnny just sat there, slightly rocking back and forth as he wiped his eyes.  
Finally speaking, Johnny softly said, "You...you really think so...I wish I was...as confident as...as you are...and it *is* my fault... my gut...I should'a... should'a listened to it...and now..."

Stopping his friend, Roy said, "Johnny...just stop a minute and listen to me. I know there have been...a few...times when your gut feelings turn out to be right...and we've all had those, it just comes with the job I guess. But, just think of all the times when you've been wrong. You didn't cause this and neither you...or me...could'a stopped what happened."  
Standing and unmaking his bed and taking off his clothes, Johnny said, "Well...maybe *one* day...I'll be able to believe that. But it won't be *anytime* soon."  
Getting in bed, Johnny pulled his covers up to his chest and threw his left arm over his eyes as he was finally able to drift off to sleep...he only hoped he wouldn't have any nightmares, but he wasn't betting on it.

Back at the hospital, Doctor Brackett was in ICU, checking on Mike. As he was writing some information in the Engineer's chart, his attention was drawn to the heart monitor.  
"PVC's...Mike, don't do this!...V-fib?"  
Going to the door, Kel shouted, "I need Doctor Early in here, stat!"  
Going back over to the bed, Kel started CPR.

Patti -

With one elbow hitting the Code Blue button on the wall and the other hand jerking out the pillow that lay beneath Mike's head, Kel started active resuscitation. He rolled Stoker long enough to place a CPR board under him that angled his head back swiftly and provided a firm support on the soft mattress.

Dr. Brackett rechecked Mike's light oropharyngeal airway that had been left in place by the Recovery Room staff but it was still doing its job well. Oxygen from a hastily placed ambu bag rapidly filled Stoker's lungs with two breaths, quickly delivered,  
when Brackett saw no natural chest rise at all, once Mike's airway was assured in alignment.

Double checking the finding on the EKG monitor, he dug in fingers,  
feeling over Mike's carotid artery to re-affirm the lack of a pulse. The coarse V-Fib was real and not a fallen lead's artifact.

::What the h*ll? What did the surgical team miss? His liver repair was a textbook case!.:: his reasoning mind snapped.

But then the little voice in his head spoke again. This time in the quiet mental voice Kel always dreaded when it came.  
::Did you think to check for rhabdomyolysis?:: it said as his eyes swept over the pale, sweaty skin of Mike's chest and abdomen that he had bared of sheets. ::More than enough of Stoker's muscles are bruised and battered to account for a possible electrolyte imbalance. But I ordered bicarb to counteract that. So this pulselessness is inexplicable.. What's wrong?:: Then his eyes found another synergistic cause hanging over Mike's bed.

The Ringer's Lactate line started in the field was still that kind of fluid post surgical for Mike's I.V. ::Oh no, this arrest is a potassium surge in full swing?::

Throwing the mask aside, Kel flattened the bed to level and grunted in full fury as he began chest compressions sharply over Mike's sternum. ::Now who the h*ll didn't follow my orders to change out that I.V. to D5W/Normal Saline? That's double the potassium problem now.. And Mike's dying here because of it!::

His wandering hurried glance at the door while he bobbed up and down with CPR caught the telltale rhythm of peaked T-waves, shortened QT intervals, and some ST segment depressions before the big PVCs on the pooling EKG strip falling into the catch bin in the feet of paper. Mike's V-Fib was still scrolling out in ink, growing finer despite Brackett's tightly focused CPR.  
::I'm right. Too much potassium! Which accounts for that fatal arrythmia I saw just before he crashed and this levelling now.::

Kel reached up and snatched down Mike's I.V. bag from its pole, dialing the flow to stop. Then he ripped the liquid reservoir off of its spiked tubing and violently threw it across the room. Holding the clamped line in between his teeth, Kel kept working on Mike, swearing up a storm.

Brackett was into his third set of bagged breaths and compressions when the code team and Dr. Early rushed into the room. "Kel!"  
he communicated alarm and a question into that one tiny word.

Brackett moved aside as two orderlies took over Mike's CPR and he brandished Mike's bagless I.V. line in the air. "Ringer's! Post surgical along with the muscular bruising effect we knew to expect.  
It's now hyperkalemia accelerated!"

Joe hurried into the crash cart two nurses brought alongside the bed.  
"It's not his bruising so much, Kel. His urine's not dark yet." Early said,  
noticing the foley bag hanging under the bedframe. "He should be easy to turn around. Nothing's physically gotten crushed on him."

"Yeah, well, we're not helping matters any pounding on his chest now are we?" Brackett growled.

Joe was swift and sure.  
"Here's what we'll do. I'll start another I.V. subclavian of Normal Saline. Hand me a 1000cc bag, would ya? Dial it wide open.  
We'll try calcium chloride at 5 mL of 10% solution IV over two minutes."

"Add one amp sodium bicarb too!" Kel snarled, still very angry at the medical mistake playing horribly out before their eyes. "Then two amps 1/10,000 epinephrine I.V. push."

"Then I'll defib." Joe agreed as the two nurses in the room hastily assembled the supplies and syringes. "Keep it sharp." he told the two orderlies. "His heart's lost its muscle tone completely."

"Defibrillate! 400 watt seconds!" Kel ordered.

"Everybody clear?" Early asked.

Kel confirmed. "Clear.." he indicated while the others centered Mike onto his back, whose color had now washed into a bluish ghost of its prior shade.

Early gelled the paddles and waited for the charger to build.  
"One. Two. Three... Clear!"

Everyone lifted their hands off of Stoker.

Joe delivered his first shock.

The heart monitor indicator leaped but didn't convert, instead it fell into the first seen course V-fib again.

"No conversion.." he announced. "Recharging.." he said, hitting the power up switch once more.

Again, Early defibrillated. To no avail.

"Nothing..." Brackett grunted.

The two orderlies instantly continued their CPR.

Brackett snapped out an order. "I want an arterial blood gas and a potassium screen A.S.A.P!"

A charge nurse picked up the phone to summon the lab.

"Kel, we've no recapture..Insert an endotracheal airway.." Joe said, his voice tight with stress.

"Got it.." Brackett said, grabbing for the laryngoscope and ET setup.  
"After he's tubed, administer 1 mg 1/10,000 epinephrine I.C. and defibrillate again."

Early's head lifted. "I'm on it!"

Frantic minutes went by with several more shocks.

Early swiftly stabbed home the I.C. injection while the others watched tensely. A bead of perspiration formed on his upper lip as he concentrated and pushed the plunger carefully, then he withdrew the syringe."Okay, I'm out." he said, eyeing up the long needle for any part of it that might have broken off on a rib.  
None was missing.

"Continue CPR." Brackett ordered.

The phone rang and a nurse picked it up. "Doctor.  
His potassium's 30-50 mmHg,...4-6.5 kPa. PaO2's 98%"

Brackett roared. "I want a calcium chloride DRIP at 5 mL of 10% solution IV, NOW!"

It was done.

Kel took the paddles from Joe and made sure he was connecting firmly over Mike's sweating skin. He shocked again.

This time, a tentative recaptured heartbeat began to flute on the monitor. Weak and wavering.

"He's finally balanced.." Joe said.

"So it was just the I.V. solution."

"Yep."

"Lucky."

"Got a pulse?" Early asked the orderly as they started suctioning out Mike's endotrachael tube as a precaution.

"Yeah, it's grower stronger, doc." said one.

Everybody relaxed around Mike, except for his ventilator.

Slowly, Kel reached up and slowed the potassium binder to a crawl. "The effect of this should last half an hour to an hour to control any more electrolyte induced arrythmias. Add Sodium Bicarbonate 1 mEq/kg piggyback to prevent a repeat of those PVCs."

"Yes, doctor." said a nurse.

Now Joe's eyes were as troubled as Kel's as they drew away from Stoker's bed. "Who made the error in hanging that I.V.?"

"I don't know, but I'm sure as h*ll gonna find out." Brackett vowed.  
Erin -

Steamed, angry and on a mission Brackett stormed out of the cubicle.  
He made a beeline for the nurses' station. He made such a noise the nurse on duty looked up. "Doctor Brackett..."

Kel cut the nurse off as he barked. "I want a list of any and all visitors and staff in the unit for the last day and I want it STAT!"

The nurse became extremely concerned. "Of course sir, what happened?"

"I'm not exactly sure, but it almost cost a patient his life and I want to find out NOW!"

Joe walked over. "He's stable, Kel. I am going to stay close,  
for a bit just to make sure."

Kel sighed. "Thanks Joe. Somehow or another I have to go try to explain this to a very worried group of close friends."

Joe's face dropped. He knew how close the men of A shift were.  
"If they want to talk to me, just holler. I'll be up here."

"Thanks Joe and thanks again for your help."

"I didn't do anything, you did all the work."

Kel turned back to the nurse. "I will be downstairs, I want that list STAT!"

The nurse swallowed hard. "Yes sir."

Concerned, confused and shaken, Kel finally turned and left the unit. He never liked to deliver bad news. He despised it even more when the news involved a friend. He didn't have to go far to find the remaining ambulatory members of A shift. They were less then 200 yards from the unit's door.

Patti -

Chet, Marco and Cap may have been in their patient rooms recovering, but Kel knew that once he shared Mike's new development, they'd try that walking, actively. To see Stoker's situation for themselves. So he planned ahead, and got a couple of orderlies to flank him discreetly to stand outside their patient room doors. He asked them to wait across the hall, watching whatever Station 51 crew door Brackett happened to enter.

Inwardly, Kel was half pleased that Roy and Johnny were no longer at Rampart. If they had been, they would have come running at the sound of Stoker's Code Blue page that had echoed over the intercom a few minutes ago.

He first targetted Cap's room. Dixie, checking the duty roster chart at the main desk on Mike's ICU floor, whipped on a pantomimed finger drawn on fake huge smile in a reminder to Brackett to kill his own angry frown of frustration before he opened Stanley's door.

Hank was up out of bed again, but listening to advice to keep his restitched legs elevated in the recliner by the window. He had a plastic wrapped package in his hands, on his lap. It was his own hospital returned bloodied fire fighter uniform and badge, along with those of Chet's, Marco's... and Stoker's.

::County property.:: Kel mused. ::But not saved as evidence by the fire department accident investigators. Well that's a good sign following a crashed fire engine.:: he decided.

"Hey, doc. How's it going?" Stanley said, looking up from the sunny dawn he had been looking at without seeing out the window.

Brackett perched on the edge of Cap's restlessly messed up patient bed.  
"I just came from Mike's room."

"What? What's the matter? Did he have a set back?" Hank asked, immediately getting agitated and nervous. "Where's his wife?"

"She's with him. And he's resting comfortably. Joe's at his side, monitoring his recovering condition."

"Recovering? Somehow I think you don't mean from his crash injuries when you're saying that." Cap whispered.

"That's true, Captain. I'm not. May I be frank with you?"

"As long as it doesn't involve any lawyers.." Hank joked. His bruised smile died away when Kel's expression didn't match his own. Cap cleared his throat and set the uniforms pack aside. Nervously, he laced together fingers onto his stomach with artificial casualness. "Okay, give it to me straight, doc. I'm used to hearing the worst of most things. It's part of my job description."

"What I have to tell you isn't going to be easy, Mr. Stanley. It most likely involves human error on the part of somebody working for me." Kel shared seriously.

"What? No, wait. I did get that. It's just a little shocking here. Um-."

Brackett let out a huge sigh and folded Stoker's extra chart over his lap. "A support staff member failed to take certain steps either in the pre or post surgical phase and didn't change out Mike's prehospital intravenous fluid type. As a result, it caused an electrolyte imbalance which triggered a loss of a viable heart beat..."

Hank shifted in his chair, frightened, restless. But he didn't get up. "Are you telling me that Mike almost died from a cardiac arrest?"

"No. He was never in any risk of dying. I was right there when it happened and I guarantee to you that he never lost oxygen perfusion. There will be no brain damage or any other permanent body effects suffered. We corrected something called a potassium surge.  
As fast as it happened, Mike's problem was rectified in minutes without any danger."

Cap was numb. He said the first thing that came to his mind. "Thank you for saving his life. Again." he whispered, in a half joke trying to wrap his brain around what he had just learned. "Uh,.. Let me think." he said, biting his lip.

Kel noticed that Hank was sweating a little, in the heat of the sun. He handed Stanley a glass of water and a straw from the night stand. "Here. This'll help."

Hank gratefully took a large sip. Then he spoke. "Okay. That's better. This is where I'm going to start. Doc, please don't create any waves for that hospital worker. Mike wouldn't want that. And neither would anybody else on my crew. We're not the suing types. Not by a long shot. I guess it's because we as firefighters are so close to seeing the results of human failings all the time."

Brackett kept his peace but he was also honest. "I have to begin an investigation to satisfy the hospital's legal services and to eventually appease upstairs administration.  
In fact, I'm already expected to do that as his attending. Whoever treated him wrongly was practicing under my license and as such, I'm legally responsible for anything that happened, however indirectly."

Hank's eyes held no bitterness. If anything, he looked calm and collected.  
"We'll sign a waiver. All of us. Especially Mike. Absolving blame. It was a mistake, doc.  
Not an attempt at murder.." he insisted.

Kel pursed his lips. "In the eyes of management, any medical mistake is a punishable offense that can't be easily ignored."

"Will you get fired for this?" Cap asked him, shocked.

"It may come to that if deliberations determine that a second check by me could have prevented it." Brackett finally said grimly.

"That's ridiculous. You didn't do the actual error."

"No, but as head of the E.R. department. I'm responsible for any made by my staff."

"Well, what can my men and I do to help?"

"Nothing, Captain. This is out of your sphere of influence entirely, I'm afraid. County policy is very clear on what I and others have to do at this point. I just thought you needed to know about all of this first hand."

Hank met Kel's eyes like a scared rabbit. "I see or rather, I don't see. But I'll bow to your administrator's discretion of course. And so will my men."

"I hope it won't come to that." Kel told him sadly.

Chet had hung up the phone two minutes earlier. He and Marco were still swallowing hard at the news Cap had shared with them.

::Mike's heart stopped?:: Kelly thought in horror. ::My G*d. Where were Roy and Johnny?::

Laura -

Meanwhile...back at the station.

After getting several hours of sleep, Roy woke up in somewhat of a haze. Looking to his right, he noticed that Johnny's bunk was empty. Somewhere in his haze-filled mind, he was sure that he remembered his partner following him to the dorms earlier, and even falling asleep, but now there was no sign of him.

Slowly, Roy sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed. Rolling his head around, he tried to get the kinks out of his neck. Inhaling deeply, he held his breath for a few seconds and then exhaled loudly. Getting up, he then put his pants on and made his way to the kitchen.

"Johnny?"

Getting no response, Roy made his way to the office. Sitting on a chair at Cap's desk, with his feet propped up was Johnny. His face was very pale and he had large bags under his eyes.

"Johnny? What's...what's going on?" Roy became very worried after he saw how awful his partner looked.

Looking his best friend in the eye, Johnny started to softly speak. "I spoke to Dixie awhile ago...Mike almost died. There was some kind of mix up with his medication...too much potassium...and he went into cardiac arrest."

"He's okay though, right?" Roy asked with concern.

"Dix said he was stable. Brackett and Early got him back."

"So what happened? Brackett would never make that kind of mistake...not in a million years."

"I don't know, Roy. She wouldn't go into details."

"The other guys?"

"They're holding their own."

"Don't take this the wrong way, Junior...and I'm not trying to be funny, but you look really lousy. Did you manage to get *any* sleep?"

Johnny sighed softly. "Maybe an hour. I spent most of the night in the bathroom...that cold pizza we had didn't seem to agree with my stomach."

"Why didn't you wake me up, Johnny?"

"Because I'm okay, Roy...besides, you needed *your* sleep. We should probably head over to Rampart."

"Johnny..."

"Roy, don't make a big deal about it. I suggest we wash up and head over. You can drive."

Johnny wearily got out of his chair and slowly walked out of the office, leaving a concerned Roy in his wake. A few mintues later, Roy joined his partner in the locker room.

"You gonna be up for this, partner? You really look like you're on your last legs."

"That's why *you're* driving. I'll be fine. Mike and the guys are in far worse shape than *I* am."

After the two paramedics washed up and dressed, they made their way to Roy's truck. Once they were inside the cab, Roy looked wordlessly over at Johnny before putting his key into the ignition.

The trip to Rampart was made in complete silence. Every few minutes Roy would look over in Johnny's direction. Although he, himself wasn't feeling the greatest, or looking the greatest, he knew Johnny was feeling and looking one hundred times worse. At the moment, Johnny's head was resting back on the headrest, his eyes closed.

Arriving at the hospital, Roy parked by the ER entrance.

"Johnny, we're here."

The dark-haired paramedic lifted his head and opened his eyes. "I kinda figured that...we stopped moving." Johnny knew what Roy was about to say and cut him off before he could say it. "I'm okay, Roy. The guys, they need us...I can't let 'em down."

The two of them got out of the truck and made their way into the ER. The first person they saw was Dixie.

The head nurse's jaw dropped at seeing how awful the junior paramedic looked.

"Johnny? I know you've been through a lot, but, my god...you really look awful."

Johnny smiled weakly at her. "I'm okay, Dix. We're here to see the guys."

Sherry -

Dixie knew what her two friends had been going through since the accident, but she felt that Johnny and Roy needed to know about Mike.

Hesitantly, she said, "Well you know where the guys are but I think "

Seeing the nurse's hesitation, Johnny and Roy both could feel that something wasn't right.

"But you think what Dix did somethin' happen?"

Finally answering Johnny, Dixie softly replied, "Yeah, something happened. Mike...he went into cardiac arrest someone didn't follow orders when Kel told them to change the IV to normal saline after his surgery he had a build up of too much potassium."

Not believing what he was hearing, Roy asked, "Is he alright?"

Hoping to put her friend's minds at ease, Dixie replied, "Yeah Roy, he's fine now. Joe and Kel got him back."

As Johnny stood there listening to the news once again about his friend, he ran his hand through his long hair and he could hear his ears ringing and he felt as if everything was moving away from him he started taking deep breaths in hopes that he wouldn't pass out.

**It's all my fault I knew I should'a said somethin' I could'a prevented all of this**  
Johnny was holding on to the desk so tightly to keep himself upright, that his knuckles were turning white...this was not lost on Roy and Dixie.  
"Johnny, are you alright?" "Yeah...yeah Roy, I'm fine. This is all my fault...when we got that call...the high winds...the feeling I had I...I should'a...should'a said somethin'...to Cap...let's go...go see Mike."  
Roy saw the deep breaths that his best friend was still taking and knew that Johnny needed to see a Doctor.  
Placing his hand on Johnny's back, Roy looked at Dixie, and asked, "Dix, is Brackett or Early around?"  
Before Dixie could say anything, Johnny looked at Roy, and replied, "No Roy...I don't...I don't need to see a Doctor...I'm okay...I'm fine...  
see...let's go."  
Johnny thought he had everything under control, but the second he let go of Dixie's desk, he quickly realized that he didn't.  
**Oh no...I'm goin' down**  
Johnny then fell to the floor, unconscious.  
"Johnny...Dix, get one of the Docs...hurry!"  
Just as Dixie came around the desk and started down the hall, she saw Kel, who was rushing toward his fallen friend.  
Kneeling down beside his unconscious friend, Kel asked, "Dix, Roy, what happened?" "We don't know Kel, he started to walk away to go see Mike and the minute he let go of the desk...he went out."  
Looking around for a gurney, Kel spotted one down the hall and looking back at Roy, he said, "Roy, grab that gurney down there and we'll take Johnny...let's get 'im into Treatment 3."  
Roy stood and quickly made his way down the hall, grabbed the gurney and and brought it to a stop beside his still unconscious partner and best friend.  
"Help me lift 'im Roy. Dix, go to 3 and get some oxygen set up and ready."  
"Right Kel."  
As Roy and Doctor Brackett carefully lifted Johnny on to the gurney, Dixie went ahead of the two and quickly got the O2 ready for her friend, After entering the treatment room, Johnny was left on the gurney as Dixie placed the nasal cannula on Johnny and Doctor Brackett started to examine his friend.  
"Dixie, get his vitals."  
Just as Dixie was putting the cuff on Johnny to get his blood pressure, he started to regain consciouness.  
Waving his arms around, Johnny softly said, "Don't... Get away...  
Leave me alone."  
Trying to calm the young paramedic down, Kel grabbed onto his arms, and said, said, "Johnny...Johnny, its okay, you're fine, just lay there and relax. You're in Rampart and you passed out...just relax."  
Slowly opening his eyes, Johnny looked around the room before he spoke.  
"Rampart...passed out...why? What...what happened?"  
"Well, that's what we wanna find out. I'm gonna keep you here, at least over night and run a few tests just to be sure that there isn't anything wrong. We'll be right back."  
"Yeah, okay." Johnny softly replied.  
Kel motioned for Roy to follow him. After stepping away from their friend, Roy softly spoke.  
"Do you have any idea what happened Doc?"  
"Exhaustion, worry about the rest of the guys...guilt. I've seen the way Johnny's been acting since the accident, he's blaming himself for this. But...what I can't figure out is...why. He had nothing to do with it."  
Roy knew that the Doctor was right, he had also seen the case of guilt that Johnny had been carrying around with him since everything happened.  
"You don't miss much, do ya Doc. Yeah, Johnny *is* blamin' himself for the accident. The night we got the call, we were havin' extremely high winds...Johnny started havin' a bad feelin' before we left the Station but he didn't say anything about it...well, except to me...and then the wreck happened and the guys...now this with Mike...so he thinks, that if he'd said somethin', he could'a stopped it from ever happenin' at all."  
Placing his stethoscope in his pocket, Kel replied, "Yeah, I remember the bad winds we were having. But it wasn't Johnny's fault and there was nothing that he could have done."  
Agreeing with Kel, Roy replied, "Yeah...you know that, and I know that...  
but you know Johnny...you can't convince *him* of that." Kel just smiled in agreement as the two walked back over to Johnny and Dixie.  
Reaching the gurney, Kel asked, "Johnny, I know this is gonna be a dumb question...but have you been eating and getting enough fluids like you should be?"  
Taking a deep breath, Johnny softly replied, "No...but neither has Roy."  
"Yeah, I figured that...but Roy isn't the one that hit the floor...you did."  
"Don't remind me. I wanna go see Mike."  
Pushing his friend back down on the gurney, Kel said, "Forget it, you can see 'im later. Dixie get an IV of normal saline going and lets get him admitted for observation."  
"Right away Kel."

Mary Ann -  
Roy left the exam room and headed for the payphone only after being pushed out by Dixie. He knew the last thing his partner ever wanted was an overnight stay at Rampart, and Johnny's soft resignation said more to his state of mind than one of his famous ongoing rants. Roy remained deeply troubled over how to help his friend. How could Johnny think there was anything he could have done to prevent what had happened? At one time or another every one of them had experienced moments when they felt a fire or rescue would turn bad, but that was just how this job went. Expecting the unexpected was a daily routine. But Roy also knew that Johnny's feelings went deeper. While he and his station mates had immediate or extended families as a vital support system, Johnny had no one except the men he worked with. They were his family and his feelings of loyalty and protectiveness were all directed at them.  
Roy reached in his pocket for a dime, hating the call he needed to make. Captain Stanley had just been released home today, and he would be trying to rest and recuperate. Cap really didn't need one more thing to worry about. As the station's captain, he held the respect of every man there, and he was most certainly as troubled, if not more, than Johnny. It was his station... his men who had gone through hell as a result of this accident. But Roy knew Captain Stanley well enough that the man could separate responsibility from guilt. Right now Cap's primary concern would be that all his men recover and return to Station 51.  
Roy dialed the number and let out a sigh, slumping heavily against the wall as he listened to the ringing at the Stanley household. "Hello, Stanley residence."  
"Oh, Hello Mrs. Stanley, this is Roy DeSoto."  
There was a soft chuckle over the line. "Roy, how many times do I have to tell you to call me Emily?"  
"Probably quite a few more, Emily, until I get it right. Could I talk with Hank?"  
Emily hesitated. "Well, Roy, he's just finally gotten to sleep about twenty minutes ago. Could you call back in a couple of hours?"  
"I'm sorry to be calling and I certainly wouldn't be disturbing him if it wasn't important, but he needs to know something, and if I didn't wake him I'd be in a lot of trouble later."  
"Of course. Just a moment." Roy heard the sound of the receiver being placed on the counter and while he waited, he rubbed his face tiredly. There was a click, and he knew Emily had picked up the phone extension in the bedroom. He heard Hank clear his throat and mumble, "H'lo? Roy? What's wrong? Is it Mike?"  
"Uh, no Cap, Mike's still stable and doing well. It's uh... It's actually Johnny that I'm calling about."  
"John? What happened?" Hank's voice was strong and clear now, with no trace of the sleepiness a moment earlier.  
"Cap, he's okay now, but he just... well, he passed out here at the hospital and Brackett wants to keep him overnight. It's just a precaution. Johnny let himself get run down and exhausted, and it just caught up with him."  
"He seemed fine, Roy! But of course he wouldn't let on to me that there was anything wrong."  
"Right. He's got this idea that he's to blame for all this because of the feeling he got that night. He thinks he should have said something to you and it all could have been prevented."  
Stanley let out a deep sigh. "Of all the crazy ideas that man has had over the years, this has got to be the most harebrained..."  
Roy's mouth quirked into a smile. Leave it to Cap to narrow down the real issue. "I know, Cap. I'll be here for a while and they'll get him settled into a room. I'll try to talk to him again."  
"And you and I both know it won't do any good if he's already got his mind made up."  
"I think that he'll figure it out eventually, but knowing Johnny, we just may have to drill it into him a little longer."  
"That's exactly what I intend to do, Roy. I'll be there in about an hour."  
Roy's eyes went wide. "N-no, Cap! That's not necessary! Get some rest and I'll give you a call later."  
"If you think I can rest now, knowing that twit, Gage, has himself all tied up in knots over some nonsense that he could have prevented this, you're wrong."  
There was a click and Roy could just imagine the words flying between Hank and Emily now. The captain had been given strict instructions by Brackett to rest at home and keep his legs elevated. He let out a groan and had the sudden urge to bang his head against the wall. If Brackett saw Hank back so soon after being released there would be hell and brimfire at Rampart. But he was pretty certain that Captain Stanley intended to raise a little hell of his own when he met up with his youngest crewmember.  
Erin -  
Hank slammed the phone down worried, upset and frustrated. He knew he had restrictions, but he couldn't stay away. John was like a young son to him, heck the entire crew was family to him. He also wanted to know how in the world his youngest charge thought he could have stopped the accident.  
Hank turned to Emily. She already had her jacket on and said, "Look, Hank, I know what you're thinking. I know I am going to catch heck myself, so we'll do this on two conditions."  
"Yes?"  
"You will stay in your chair and you will tell me the second something is wrong. I don't want you to play Superman. John is like a son to me too."  
The seasoned Captain swallowed hard. He had expected to have to fight for the right to go back to the hospital. "Oh god honey, how can I thank you?"  
"Get better and then get our boys better."  
"Well I'll do what I can for the second one but I promise I will."  
With that the Stanley's made the trek to their car. Hank had his party manners on and behaved as well as he could. Although he hid it on the outside, his insides were torn up. He dozed off only a minute as Emily pulled up to the hospital. She wasn't surprised to see Roy standing outside.  
Desoto sighed knowingly as he ran for the truck and helped Emily get Hank out and settled. Hank was matter of fact. "Has he said anything?"  
"No, Cap, something tells me it's going to be hard to get him to speak. He wants to see Mike, but Brackett won't let him yet."  
"Yeah he's not going to be happy with me, either, but I can't let you guys go through this alone."  
The trio made their way inside. Before Dixie could say anything a blood curdling scream ripped through the hall from Johnny's room. As fast as they could, Roy and Hank headed for the room.  
Kel looked up stunned. Hank put up his hand as if to say later doc. Kel twitched but didn't say a word. As Johnny started to thrash, Hank made his way to the table and took one hand. Roy instinctively took the other. Hank's voice sounded like a worried father. "John, settle down it's Hank now look I need you to talk to me."  
Before the younger man spoke he reached for his Captain and held on tight. "Cap?"  
"Right here, pal."  
"God, I'm sorry I should have warned you."  
"Warned me? How?"  
"I...I could have...I should have..." Gage's voice fell off unsure of how to explain everything.

Patti -

Johnny Gage met Cap's eyes in full. "I saw something critical on the day of the accident that I ended up dismissing, that I should have reported to you the minute I saw it."

Roy DeSoto snorted. "Would you stop with the vague suppositions already? You're giving me the willies." he said partially irritated, very concerned. "What ever it was you think you did, I probably did, too. I was with you that whole day at work doing chores, going on calls, cleaning up afterwards. Same as you, remember? If anything weird happened, I'm just as responsible for being so oblivious. Now just what is or was so terrible?"

Gage lowered his head and fidgetted with his fingers. "Remember Mike was doing some light maintenance on the engine? He had all the tools out, and the mechanics' creeper. Well, I... I... only noticed because I didn't want to trip over the d*mned thing like I always do so I kicked it out of the way for Boot to chase... and when I did, my eye fell on the fluid bottle tray. You know the one where everything's color coded? Well, uh.."

Cap got firm. "Just out with it, Gage. This is a little stupid to agonize over it."

"Okay, okay.. I'm.. getting to it. I'm getting to the point. Uh,... the label on the engine's brake fluid, the orange one that's always there? Well it was... " Johnny choked, his eyes beginning to fill with tears. "I noticed that it was.. was ...  
seriously out of date."

"Oops. That's quite a gremlin. How long had it been bad?" Cap whispered.

Gage sighed and finally couldn't meet the others' eyes. "About three and a half months expired, Cap, if I read it right."

A shocked silence filled the room, just as a cloud floated by in front of the sun,  
casting everybody into faded shadow from the window.

DeSoto was the first to discount the observation. "Oh, well. Doesn't mean the stuff wouldn't work if used. You know the manufacturers always add a safety, with an exaggerated expiration date time period. Just like the earlier dates on milk cartons."

Gage agreed, weakly. "Yeah, I guess that's true. We don't have any freezing in California to worry about accelerating that end of life breakdown, right?" But his eyes were still worried, haunted. "But why is my gut feeling still there?"

"Because you have a tendency to snowball imaginary issues, Johnny. Especially when you're under the weather physically. " Roy told him, tiredly, with a tinge of anger.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa..." Stanley said, holding up two hands from the chair he was sitting carefully in. "Stop it right now." Hank became decisive, very fast. "Before we cry any kind of wolf one iota, let's get our particular odd fact absolutely straight here. I'm not a mechanic, but we all know one who is. So, John, let's solve that particular bad notion in your brain, right now."

Stanley picked up the phone and dialed the waiting room. "Hello, Dixie? Is Charlie still there? I figured he was waiting for Mike to wake up so they could visit. Could you put him on? We have a departmental thing to handle that's probably not that important." he emphasized, glaring at Gage with emphasis.

Johnny frowned.

"Hello, Charlie? Could you come to 214. We've got a question to add for the investigators that you might already know the answer to."

## Sure thing, Hank. I'll be right up. I'll leave de missus with a magazine.##

The gang shifted nervously around Gage's bed while they waited. Nobody said a word.

Finally, the door opened and the bent nosed, salt and pepper haired fire department jacketed mechanic entered. He was in a good mood, having heard Dixie's reassurance about Chet, Marco and Mike directly a few hours ago. His smile immediately dropped off again when he saw who it was who was a patient in the bed. "Gage? What the h*ll? I didn't know yous was injured at all.."

"I'm not. Well,.."

"It's cumulative, Charlie. Nothing big." Roy said.

"Oh. Okay. So everything's still all right in my world. Cool."

"Not so cool." Johnny sighed, looking troubled.

"Now I don't like the sound of that one bit." Charlie said, pulling up a chair. "So, spill the beans. I'm all ears." he said, suddenly completely professional.

"It's nothing, Charlie." said Hank. "Just an idea that's probably unfounded."

"So run it by me. I'm here, aren't I?" he laughed, softly.

The others held their tongues. They knew to let Johnny finally go first as the next step to ease his tortured conscience that had physically sickened him.

But Gage remained quiet.

Charlie guessed a reason for any reluctance. "Hey.. Johnny...  
Do you see me yelling and screaming my head off about Red? She's already bound for the scrap yard on paper, after the investigators are done reassembling and examining her in that airport hanger. It was an accident, Gage. With purely environmental factors decided as the overriding cause."

"M-maybe not." Johnny whispered, swallowing dryly. "Charlie, our brake fluid on the top off cart got old on us without anyone noticing."

"How old is old? Old as me?" he joked.

The others laughed. But not Johnny.

"About three months I think. I...I don't know. I only remember seeing part of the markered date on the bottle."

"Oh, well that's easy to solve. Just call the station and have somebody go read it again." Charlie shrugged. "I can do it from here." he said, reaching over and snatching up the green phone receiver. He dialed enthusiastically, his smile still plastered on his face with effort to ease the gang. "Hello, Brice? Thought you might be there digging around the manuals to update them. Could yas do me a favor?  
Go over to the top off trolley and read off the date on the brake fluid can. I know.  
It's dumb, but somebody over here's gotta know." he said. "Yeah, that's right. That's the one. Now what does it say?

Charlie pursed his lips. "..Uh, huh.. Right. March 19, ... Nineteen Seventy Eight. Right.  
Thanks a million. Solves a ton. See yas next week at Nine's." Click.

Johnny closed his eyes and sank into his pillow. "Oh, thank G*d. That's next year."

"D*mned straight. Neither Mike nor I would ever make a mistake like that, butthead.  
Now are yous through with me? I wanna get back by Dixie downstairs so I know the moment Mike's ready to start receiving his visitors. Glad I helped clear out that utter nonsense. Now get some sleep!" he said, bounding out of the room.

Gage sighed fully once the door was closed. "I feel stupid."

"No, you feel relieved. Anyone wonders about what else could have happened in bad situations. Small things seem important if they're suddenly different than they should be and might be involved. That's normal the last time I checked." Hank lectured Johnny with a grin.

Roy started grinning when the pulse he felt in Johnny's wrist suddenly slowed down and a yawn cracked wide open on his partner's face. "Get some sleep. That bug of yours is gone. Charlie killed it."

"I am kind of tired." Johnny rasped.

"So am I." Hank said. "Gimme one of your blankets. I'm sleeping right here. I promised Emily."

Smiling at last, Gage obliged, tossing over the beige wool cover spread deftly.

"I'll go see to Mike." DeSoto said, flipping off the room's light and closing the blinds to block out the now cloudy day. "And I'll talk to Brackett. Just like I know we all want to do."

"I already did." mumbled Hank sleepily from where he was already dozing.

"Oh, well in that case, I'll think of something else to do to occupy myself. Marco and Chet are probably bored out of their minds." Roy nodded, leaving the two of them to nap.

Gage was already snoring.

Dr. Brackett sat in his office, alone with Joe, who sat in the arm chair opposite.

"There's no mistake?" Early asked Kel.

"None, I'm afraid. The security cameras clearly show Sharon Walters ordering that new orderly to the I.V. cabinet in Mike's pre-op room."

"What's going to happen to him?" Joe asked. "It would be a shame if he got fired.  
He barely knows any english."

"It's up to the administrators, Joe. If he indeed misinterpretted Sharon's orders and then read and took in the wrong fluid, he can't be trusted, even though he meant well.  
A patient's life was seriously at stake because of his decision. Stoker's. It doesn't matter that nobody wants to press charges. That man's simply a risk we can't have around."

Early rubbed his lips. "But who hung that I.V. Kel? The wrong one was picked, yes.  
But only a nurse, a paramedic or doctor has the authority to physically change it."

"That's a mystery we may never know, Joe. There are no cameras in the operating room." Brackett sighed. "I'd say we just move on from here like the administrators are suggesting,  
and make sure that Mike Stoker gets home in one perfect piece and back to his family, like we're in the business of doing. I'd say the Santa Ana winds have claimed enough for one week, don't you agree?"

Joe Early nodded. "Those poor firefighters. It'll be at least a month or longer before Station 51 gets a new engine and at least that much longer or more until the rest of them are fit enough to return to duty. How will they cope in the meantime?"

"Like they always do, Joe. By taking it one day at a time." Brackett smiled encouragingly.  
"Doctors like us can only wait and see what happens next."

Laura -

Roy left Johnny and his Captain who were both comfortably asleep, and headed out into the hallway. Slowly he made his way to the ICU to see Stoker.

On his way to the ICU, he bumped into an orderly who was mumbling unintelligibly in Spanish.

"Excuse me," Roy politley said to the young man, then added, "I shoulda been paying better attention to where I was going."

The paramedic was taken aback when he was only met with silence and an almost menacing glare from the orderly. As the man walked away from him, Roy stood watching for a few moments until he had disappeared around the corner. For some reason, the hair on the back of Roy's neck started to stand up and he couldn't shake off the creepy feeling that he had started to feel.

Regaining his composure, Roy continued his way to the ICU to his seriously ill friend.

As he approached Mike's room, he could see Mike's wife sitting in a chair beside her husband, who was currently asleep.

Entering quietly, he smiled when she looked up at him. "Hey,Liz. How's he doing?"

Getting up to greet the paramedic, Liz gave Roy a hug. "He's stable...but...Brackett and Early think that there may be some damage to his heart, among other organs. They wanna run some tests later today."

"I'm sorry. How are *you* doing?"

"I'm holding up okay, Roy. It's a heck of a thing to happen. How did you and Johnny escape all of this?"

"Luck, I guess. Listen, if there's anything you need...let me know...or if you want Joanne to stay with you..."

"I will...thanks."

Roy nodded and left the room. Out in the hallway, he decided that he'd pay Chet and Marco a visit.

Arriving at their room, he opened the door and peeked in. Seeing the two firefighters awake, Roy entered.

"Good morning."

Chet and Marco both looked up and smiled.

"Hey."

"Buenas dias."

"How are you guys feeling?"

"Better. Where's Gage?" asked a concerned Chet.

When Roy didn't answer right away, the two of them knew something was wrong.

"He's okay, isn't he?"

Roy nodded his head. "Oh...it's nothing serious...a mild case of food poisoning or something."

Chet continued to pump Roy for information. "Where is he now?"

"He's here at the hospital. I left him a little while ago, and he was sleeping comfortably. Look, Johnny's fine...I came here to see how you guys were doing."

It was Marco's turn to be concerned. "Roy, there's more to all of this than you're telling us. What's going on?"

The paramedic hesitated for a moment. He didn't want to upset his friends, but understood that they wanted to know about the whole situation. "Johnny's blaming himself for the accident."

Chet and Marco looked at each other briefly before turning their attention back to Roy.

"Is Gage on something? Why would he think that all of this was *his* fault?"

Roy sighed and went on to tell his friends about Johnny's perceived mistake about misreading the label on the brake fluid bottle, and Charlie's response to all of it.

"Leave it to Gage. How are Mike and Cap doing?"

"Cap's okay...in fact he's with Johnny now. I...I had no choice but to call him when Johnny started to get really agitated. Mike...he's stable but...I don't know how it's gonna play out for him. His wife is pretty worried."

The three friends continued to talk for another fifteen minutes.

"Have you heard about what's going to happen to the station...the engine and squad being totaled and all?"

"No Chet, I haven't. Charlie mentioned something about replacement vehicles, but nothing else was said. The important thing is that we get all you guys back on your feet again."

"How about you, amigo? As the last man of the shift still standing, you don't exactly look so hot, either."

"I'm all right, Marco. Mostly just tired...the last few days have been pretty stressful. Well, I should get going...you two need your rest. I'll check back with you later."

As Roy turned around and started for the door, he was interupted by Chet.

"Hey...tell all the guys that me and Marco are okay, and that we say hello."

"I will, Chet...take care."

As Roy left his friends' room, he still couldn't shake the odd feeling he was having about the strange orderly that he had bumped into on his way to see Stoker.

"Think I'll pay Dr. Brackett a visit...see what he has to say about it."

Patti -

He started frowning when he saw that Johnny Gage had snuck out of his room to become his shadow. "Johnny, why aren't you in bed? I thought they told you t-"

Roy DeSoto almost ran into more surprise visitors outside of Marco and Chet's room. "Maximillion J. Lorentz?" he grinned, pleasantly surprised.  
He smiled when he saw flowers in Max's hands. "Those for the guys?" he guessed, pointing, trying to recover some politeness.

"Yep.." said Max, then he gestured behind him. "Flowers,.. and him. I figured it be best if I finally called..." he said sheepishly. Dixie looked frightened beside a new official looking man, wearing a gun.

Roy's face fell when he recognized the dark skinned Lt. Crockett from the police department, replete in his usual gray suit and power tie with a clearly displaying belt badge.

"Wh- what's going on?" Roy asked.

Max pulled Roy back into Chet and Marco's room, uninvited,  
shushing him. He glanced over all of their shoulders, gesturing.  
"Dixie, you've got to go find him. Fast!" he told her.

"In a minute. I want to know exactly what the trouble is so I can go handle it, okay." she said firmly.

"Max.." Roy asked again.

Maximillion ignored him, turning to the police lieutenant who already had a notebook and pen out after he had followed them inside.

Chet and Marco were moused into silence from the smiles they had at the sight of the flowers arriving, at the next words they heard Mr. Lorentz say, as he finally told his tale to the police detective.

Mr. Lorentz lifted somber eyes wearily.  
"This is about Stoker, sir. I've.. got a grand nephew who works here. His mother was a Mexican dancer. About twenty years ago, she wed one of my brothers. You see, she thrilled to his wheeling and dealing on the stock market. Remember my mattress stash, boys?"

"How can we forget.." Chet moaned.

"Well, she was a bit sore that she never saw a dime after my brother lost his whole portion of his inheritance on the stocks, and my grand nephew, even more so. Why else do you think I would hide mine besides my strong hate of banks? She wanted my money, yes, but he wanted it worse, especially after my brother died."

"What's his name, sir?" Crockett prompted.

"Uh, it's Mexican. He and his mother moved back across the border the minute they heard I survived that warehouse fire and both of them swore to never speak a word of English to anyone, ever again."

"Until now?" Dixie guessed, thinking of the orderly.

Max just nodded, timidly, afraid.

"Sir, the name? We need to speak with this man." said Lt. Crockett.

"It's Hector Santiago." Dixie told him.

Mr. Lorentz nodded, "And, there's more I think I have to tell you."

"I don't understand.." Marco prompted, surprised.

"That warehouse fire was no accident. They started it."

"What? Are you saying that building fire was a torch job?"  
Roy gasped.

"Yep. To get rid of me. You see, Hector and his mother thought they'd get my life insurance policy after I was dead." Max told him.

"Well why didn't you tell anyone after we pulled you out of there about all this?" Chet asked.

"Yeah, Or when you visited us later at the station with your money?"  
Marco replied.

Max studied his scuffed shoes. "I thought I could handle it by myself."

"Oh, boy, an arson job? Headquarters isn't gonna be happy that Cap's gonna haveta reopen that case again." Chet bemoaned.

Lt. Crockett still wasn't connecting the dots. "I still don't see a problem here at Rampart, Mr. Lorentz."

"Oh, don't you?" Max started up. "My saved money and I made the papers. Didn't you see the article on page seven metro section?  
My picture and that mattress were all over it."

Chet blanched, "And so were we, guys, taking inventory.."

The gang looked at Kelly.

"I...sort of saved it as a trophy clipping." Chet admitted.

"Yep. And he hates you for it, Hector does. You boys got some of my money."

"No, wait. Our charities did." Marco told him.

Max began to pace, running nervous fingers through his hair.  
"Hector doesn't know that. Doesn't matter where it ended up in the end. Hector sees it wholly as the fire department, aka, your shift, as receiving undeserved gold." Max emphasized.

"And there's our motive.." Lt. Crockett sighed. "Neat as a pin."

Gage was indignant. "You mean, Mike's crossed I.V. error was on purpose?" He couldn't quite wrap his brain around the idea of attempted murder.

Lt. Crockett didn't horrify Johnny more, by physically replying.

He swiftly got on the phone on a patient nightstand. "I want officers posted outside Johnny Gage, Marco Lopez, Chet Kelly and Mike Stoker's hospital rooms asap. And I want a pair of patrol cars sent out to the Stanley and DeSoto households..." he paused while his underlings took notes. Then he exploded, "I don't know their addresses, I didn't ask them! Call the fire department and use your sworn officer clout for the information you need." he growled, slamming the phone down hard.

"I'll get security to start a sweep of the hospital." she told them all.  
"If Hector's here, they'll find him." Dixie shared, swiftly leaving the room.

Crockett got worried fast when five minutes later, Dixie returned with word. "Nobody's seen him. And the punch clock hasn't been used. Not since last night when Mike was admitted."

"We'll find him." Crockett promised. "Now that we know who we're looking for."

"Or he'll find us.." Roy swallowed, thinking of his family and friends, one and all.

Sherry -

Unknown to those in Chet and Marco's room, Hector Santiago had returned to the hospital. Quietly standing outside the door, Hector had heard the entire conversation, but hearing that Dixie was leaving the room, he quickly faded back into the shadows.

Softly speaking, Hector said, "Damn it, that fireman is still alive...those Doctors, that's why ...that stupid nurse gave me what I needed, but those Doctors, that's why I failed, but I *won't* fail again. So, they think they can catch me, with that cop and what they call security in this place, that's a laugh. Well they better do it before the other firemen die...and this time, they will...maybe along with that pretty little nurse. Maximillion...I *will* have my due, that money is mine and I will have it."  
Quietly, Hector slipped back into the darkness to plan his next move and to decide who his next victim would be.

Back in the hospital room, Johnny looked over at his best friend, and softly said, "Oh Pally, don't even think that way. We've *all* been through enough."  
Looking at the dark haired paramedic, Crockett replied, "Roy's right Johnny, if what Mr. Lorentz here says is true, each and every one of you guys are targets. And this guy has proven that, with Stoker. But, I'm hoping with the extra security, nothing further will happen, but we aren't going to take any chances. Mr. Lorentz, I think I'll give you some protection as well, you could be a target just as the firemen are."  
Shaking his head, Max replied, "No Lieutenant Crockett, if they wanted to do something to me, they would have done it by now. No, no, I want you to make sure that all of these fine, brave young men, along with their families, are safe." Johnny looked at the older man, and replied, "Mr. Lorentz, Lieutenant Crockett's right. Besides, as you said, they already tried to kill you, in that warehouse fire. You need protection the same as we do."  
Again refusing, Max said, "No young man, I'm old and have lived a wonderful and exciting life, so whatever happens to me is not important. But you and the others...and your families...you are important, so don't worry about me. Now, gentlemen, I hope you all get well soon but if you all will excuse me, I'll be going now."  
Stepping in front of the door to block him from leaving, Roy asked, "Ah, where are you gonna go?"  
Smiling, Max replied, "Just out young man...just out."  
Stepping over beside Max, Lieutenant Crockett said, "Well, how 'bout if I go out with you. And I'm not taking no for an answer. Gentlemen, I'll be in touch."  
With that, the two men left the room, leaving the firemen to ponder all that had just transpired.  
Johnny looked around at his friends, and said, "Ya know...I think we could be in some trouble."

Laura -

With the thought of something really serious possibly happening to Roy's family or to any of his other friends' families, Johnny awoke in a panic.

Opening his eyes, the first person Johnny saw was Mike Stoker, who was looking back at him with a concerned, but smiling face.

"Mike is that you?" he asked the engineer uncertainly.

"Yep it's me, Johnny. How are you feeling?"

Johnny lay in bed thinking for a few moments, before answering softly.

"How how am *I* feeling? How are YOU feeling? You you almost didn't make it, Mike."

The engineer looked over at his friend with a confused expression.

"Hurting my shoulder is hardly `almost not making it'. What are you talking about, Johnny?"

"The the accident the engine and the squad were totaled. You you went into cardiac arrest. Your wife was here."

"My wife? Johnny, I'm not even married. I should get a doctor. I'll be right back."

Mike started to get up out of the chair, but the paramedic reached out and grabbed his hand. "No no, I'm fine."

"No, you're not. You don't even remember what happened yesterday. *You're* the one who could have died you and Roy."

"Roy? What happened to Roy? He he was the only one who wasn't hurt."

"I'm sorry to say the whole crew got banged up you and Roy got the worst of it." When Mike continued to see Johnny's confused expression, he went on. "Roy broke his wrist and hurt his knee. He was able to go home, but you've been pretty out of it since yesterday morning."

"Where's everyone else?"

"Cap should be coming to relieve me soon we've all been taking turns sitting with you. Like it or not, we've been really worried about you. Marco and Chet were here with you for most of yesterday we've all been pulled off duty until next shift. You don't remember any of this?"

Johnny looked at his friend he was speechless.

"I I don't know."

"That's okay. You have a real bad concussion your memory is probably a little off."

"It was so real I I thought "

Coming into the room was Captain Stanley and Dr. Early.

"Oh, you're awake. How do you feel, Johnny?" Joe asked the paramedic.

"I guess not too bad."

"How's your head? Any headache?"

"My head?"

The doctor nodded. "Yes your head. You have a rather serious concussion, and were in and out for the better part of almost two days."

Johnny looked somewhat relieved at the doctor. "Well, then I guess that explains it it was only a dream."

Patti -  
Johnny Gage looked at Joe Early with a partly fearful, worried glance. Beside him, Mike Stoker took a chair by his bedside.

Gage asked. "Okay, I am having trouble deciding what was real and what is fantasy, doc. So help me out a little."

"Sure, Johnny. Dixie's been trying every vitals check to keep you current on things." Early shared, checking out Gage's pupils with his penlight.

Gage winced. "Ouch. So, Mike, spell it out for me. The engine crashed?"

"Yep."

"All of us were injured?"

"Yep."

"The driver of the car who hit the squad died?"

"Yep. Accidental collision. Nothing malicious." Cap shared.

Joe looked up from his examination of Johnny's neural status and grip strength. "Johnny, you're normal so far apart from a little light sensitivity. Mike, you guys had a fatality at the accident?"

"Yeah, doc. Roy said so." Mike told him. "A car couldn't stop in time on the freeway to avoid the squad when they stopped in front of the rolled over engine. It was pretty windy and on a blind curve."

Johnny looked partially relieved when his memory matched up with those early facts. "Okay, I recall that. Now, tell me like a paramedic. What injuries did I find.. I mean, whoever dug us out, find on all of us?"

Right then, Dixie opened Johnny's hospital door. "I can answer that. I figured you'd want a little grounding now that you're back into the land of the living." In her arms were six hospital charts.  
She flipped open the first one. "Johnny Gage. Unconscious, shock. Probable concussion. Long boarded and collared. Mild breathing difficulty, corrected with an oral airway and oxygen."

Johnny felt his throat for soreness but didn't find any.

Joe leaned in. "That was two days ago."

One by one McCall read off the initial call reports on the gang from their records that first started off the biophone transmissions of their accident. "Station 127, 24 and 9's were your responders on scene.  
Let's see. Roy DeSoto. Conscious, left wrist fracture. Bruised right knee, ambulatory. Chet Kelly, unconscious due to shock and a brachial bleed. Stopped by direct pressure at the scene. Mike Stoker,  
bruised shoulder, no rotator cuff damage on initial nor any signs of shock. Henry Stanley. Cracked ribs, no pulmonary compromise.  
Split lip needing no minor surgery, just three stitches. Marco Lopez,  
a broken right index finger found following a correction of an obstructed airway."

Johnny looked frightened. "Marco almost choked?"

"Never lost a pulse." Dixie countered calmly, levelly. "It was due to some bitten tongue blood and the fact that he was found on his back, unconscious. He started breathing right away after a few breaths on ambu and some suction." She tossed the charts onto Johnny's bed so he could pore over them to his heart's content. "Johnny, everybody's fine,  
and so are you." she said with exasperation and finality. "So why fuss?  
It's not amnesia, just a need for a little catching up. And now you are."

Gage wasn't comforted. "What did my x-rays show?"

"Absolutely negative for any cranial bleeding or swelling. We kept you sedated to allow healing time." Joe told him.

"So that's why I'm so muzzy." Gage scoffed.

"It's temporary, just like I told you." Early said kindly.

Mike Stoker added more. "Doc, he thought I was married and that a psychopath was trying to kill me."

"That was probably a dream. As for the second part, there is a psychopath trying to kill all of you." Joe said matter of fact. "Every day so far."

Gage's musing expression fell into one of shock. "There is?"

"Yep." Dixie said, chuckling. "It's called fire, Fireman Gage. I hear it's totally commonplace in your profession."

Johnny beaned her with a pillow. "Thanks a lot."

"Just testing reactions." Dixie laughed, neatly blocking it. "After all, why wouldn't I want to see whether or not some friends had survived what they've started calling The Gale Force Nightmare in the news?"

"That was some storm." Joe mused. "What? There was something like a hundred injuries either directly or indirectly caused by it that day that trucked through our E.R. alone. Including your station's crashes."

Gage finally relaxed on the bed, stretched full out, burying his eyes.  
"Yeah, well I'm really glad it's finally all over."

"Is it?" Mike Stoker asked, gesturing to the window across the room.

Through the blinds, the sound of the Santa Ana winds picked up speed, and started howling.

FIN 


End file.
